Natick Nutcrackers, Day 4: Greater Boston School of Dance

Introduction

Last day. I definitely have visions of sugarplums dancing in my head now. I went to the Greater Boston School of Dance Nutcracker in the interest of being thorough, as I neither knew anyone who danced there, nor knew anything about the school. It's new to Natick - I think it was initially in a VFW in Wellesley, as most of the students were from Wellesley and Weston.

Authenticity

This Nutcracker hewed pretty closely to the traditional Nutcracker plot. However they did something that I've not seen before but worked phenomenally. They embraced the fact that like most ballet schools they lack male dancers. Rather than import some male dancers, or have stand-in Nutcrackers and cavaliers who don't really dance, they used a female in full ballet tutu as the Nutcracker. She wore a lovely red and white tutu with vaguely military details and proper nutcracker red circles on her cheeks. It worked really well, as she danced in parallel with Clara and with the other fairies. The rest of the show was all Nutcracker as you remember it, including one of my favorites - Mother Ginger. I'm going to dock them a point for shortening some of the dances, most egregiously - the Marzipan.
Score: 9/10 - minus 1 point for shortening the dances

Staging and Costumes

This was a lovely Nutcracker. The costumes were superb - I can't imagine how much money they sink into these (maybe they rent some?). The most interesting costume was the Nutcracker tutu, but I've already gushed about it enough. This was the first time I've seen the Mouse Queen in a tutu as well, but she was splendidly malevolent in a dramatic black tutu. They were far from home, so the props were a bit spartan, but it was nicely done. The Dedham Middle School is a modern facility and the acoustics were nice and the lighting was well done. There were a few track issues, but the performers handled the little hiccups professionally - bravo to the instructors for teaching them not to panic!
Score: 8/10

Christmas Tree Growth

I was eager to see the Christmas tree grow to a spectacular height, but again, I was disappointed. It stood there in it's stand, hoping that we'd be distracted by the dancers. However, it looked like a real tree, so that might have been difficult to do much "magical" with it.
Score: 5/10 (for using a real tree)

Lacrosse Bonus Points

Sadly, no lacrosse players that I knew, and no one listed lacrosse as an interest in the program. However, I am awarding them 2 bonus points for the innovative Nutcracker role and costuming and another bonus for the Mouse Queen in a tutu.
Bonus points: +3

Final Comments

Don't be dissuaded by the score. This is an excellent Nutcracker. The performances were very enjoyable. It's a small, but growing school, and the performances and young dancers show incredible talent. This Nutcracker will be one to watch as it grows and incorporates more Natick dancers. They just need to get a venue closer to Natick. Also, they need more lacrosse players if they expect to scoop up some more bonus points!
Recommended - especially for the female Nutcracker (don't change it, even if you get some male dancers)

Total Score: 22/30 +3 bonus points -1 point docked, for 24
(a note on scoring - don't take these numbers seriously. Everyone wants to rank things nowadays, but really now, points for lacrosse players? Points for the tree? Bonus points for 80's music?)