Dance in America

SAN FRANCISCO BALLET
NUTCRACKER

Composer:  Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Choreography: ©Helgi Tomasson

Scenic Design:  Michael Yeargan

Costume Design: Martin Pakledinaz

Lighting Design:  James F. Ingalls

Projection Design:  Wendall K. Harrington

Conductor: Martin West

Closing credit crawl:

Director  (CARD)
MATTHEW DIAMOND

Producer  (CARD)
JUDY FLANNERY

Host (CARD)
KRISTI YAMAGUCHI

Lighting Director
ALAN ADELMAN

Audio Producer & Engineer
ADAM ABESHOUSE

Coordinating Producer
ALISON GIBSON

Associate Director
RAE KRAUS

Associate Producer
JUNE MESINA OUELLETTE

Segment Producer
LINDA SCHALLER

CAST

Uncle Drosselmeyer
DAMIAN SMITH

Clara
ELIZABETH POWELL

Nutcracker Prince
DAVIT KARAPETYAN

Snow Queen
YUAN YUAN TAN

Snow King
PIERRE-FRANÇOIS VILANOBA

Sugar Plum Fairy
VANESSA ZAHORIAN

Genie
SARAH VAN PATTEN

Chinese Man
NICOLAS BLANC

Russian Lead
PASCAL MOLAT

Grand Pas De Deux Ballerina
MARIA KOCHETKOVA

Soloists

RICARDO BUSTAMANTE

ANITA PACIOTTI

PASCALE LEROY

JIM SOHM

RORY HOHENSTEIN

CLARA BLANCO

GARRETT ANDERSON

DAVID ARCE

DORES ANDRE

FRANCES CHUNG

JAIME GARCIA CASTILLA

HANSUKE YAMAMOTO

ANTHONY SPAULDING

BRETT BAUER

MARIELLEN OLSON

ELANA ALTMAN

JENNIFER STAHL

JAMES SOFRANKO

LOUIS SCHILLING

MATTHEW STEWART

Corps de Ballet

ERIN MCNULTY
MIRIAM ROWAN
COURTNEY CLARKSON
DANA GENSHAFT
COURTNEY WRIGHT
AARON ORZA
ALEXANDRA LOREY
GAREN SCRIBNER
PAULI MAGIEREK
STEVEN NORMAN
CHRISTOPHER MONDOUX
NICOLE GRAND
MARGARET KARL
SHANNON ROBERTS
SASHA DESOLA
DANIELLE SANTOS
COURTNEY ELIZABETH
ASHLEY MUANGMAITHONG
ALEXANDRA MCCULLAGH
LUDMILA CAMPOS
ADELINE KAISER
LILY ROGERS
PATRICIA PEREZ
CHARLENE COHEN

STUDENTS OF SAN FRANCISCO BALLET SCHOOL

SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ORCHESTRA

Music Director
MARTIN WEST

Production Manager
LEFTY LEFCOURT

Master Carpenter
NIXON BRACISCO

Master of Properties
KENNETH M. RYAN

Master Electrician
DENNIS HUDSON

Audio Engineer
KEVIN KIRBY

Orchestra Personnel Manager
TOM ROSE

Stage Manager
JANE GREEN

Wardrobe Supervisor
GEORGE ELVIN

Wig and Makeup
RICHARD BATTLE

PRODUCTION

Manager, TV Production Operations
FRANK CARFI

Unit Manager
JOLEE HOYT

Engineer in Charge
JIM ROLIN

Technical Director
GREG OVERTON

Camera Operators
DIANE BIEDERBECK
MIKE ELWELL
ED FUSSELL
VICTOR GONZALEZ
GREG KING
BETTINA LEVESQUE
JOHN REPCZYNSKI
RONNIE E. SMITH

Video
MARK SANFORD
ERIC SHACKELFORD

Videotape
HERB FERRETTE
JONATHAN MORRIS

Audio Recording Engineer
SILAS BROWN

Audio
HELEN SILVANI
FRED TETZNER

Field Engineers
TIM KUBIT
HUGH HEALY

Lighting Supervisor
KEVIN CONNAUGHTON

House Electricians
TIMOTHY PURCELL
ELOISE TWINING

Utilities
MARIA MENDOZA
MARTY COEN
RICK SANTANGELO
JIM MCKEE

Stage Manager
FRANK ZAMACONA

Graphic Design
ZALDY SERRANO
CARLO A. FLORES

Audio Post Production
ADAM ABESHOUSE
DANN THOMPSON

Script Consultant
SHARON WOOD

Editors
MARK STEPP
STEPHANIE CHALLBERG

Online Editor
ROBERT O’GEEN

Remote Crew

Camera
TOMAS TUCKER
RICK BUTLER

Audio
FRED TETZNER
HELEN SILVANI
LAURETTA MOLITOR

Tape
ERIC SHACKELFORD

Lighting
DARRELL FLOWERS
JEFFREY GILLIAM
JOE MENDOZA

Grip
JAMES GREENFIELD
RICK EDMONDSON

Teleprompter
RANDY BRASE

Stage Manager
MARGARET CLARKE

Special Thanks
Conservatory of Flowers
Park and Recreation, San Francisco

Richard Reutlinger
Tim Simon and Ann Little Simon

Archival Photos and Film Courtesy Of
Donna Ewald Huggins
The Exploratorium of San Francisco

For San Francisco Ballet

Artistic Director
HELGI TOMASSON

Executive Director
GLENN McCOY

General Manager
LESLEY KOENIG

For  KQED

Vice President, Television & Education Network
MICHAEL J. ISIP

Vice President, TV Engineering & Operations
STEVE WELCH

Executive Vice President, Marketing & Communications
DONALD DERHEIM

For Great Performances

Production Associate
MIICHAEL WEINSTEIN-REIMAN

Series Producer
BILL O’DONNELL

Executive Producer
DAVID HORN

A Co-production of
San Francisco Ballet and KQED Public Television
In association with Thirteen/WNET New York

© 2008  KQED, Inc.
San Francisco Ballet Association

Web Credits

PRODUCER
Daniel Ross

DESIGNER
Nicholas Miller

PAGEBUILDING
Brian Santalone

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Brian Lee

Watch a preview:

Recorded last December by KQED Public Television to help commemorate the company’s 75th anniversary, the work is choreographed by Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson and features sets and costumes by, respectively, Michael Yeargan and Martin Pakledinaz, both repeat Tony Award-winning designers. “Striking, elegant and beautiful,” assessed The New York Times.

Introduced by Olympic champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, a native of the Bay Area and winner of this year’s Dancing with the Stars, the production premieres in high definition and 5.1 surround sound Wednesday, December 17 at 8 p.m. (ET) on GREAT PERFORMANCES on PBS (check local listings). San Francisco Ballet Music Director and Principal Conductor Martin West conducts Tchaikovsky’s sprightly score.

“I have grown up with this wonderful company,” says Yamaguchi. “It was with them that my mom, Carole, took me to my first Nutcracker. Pretty impressive for a little girl, with all that magic and sparkle, thrilling music and those costumes! I think that’s when I fell in love with performing. Next year, I’ll be taking my little girls, 5 and 3, to their first production.”

In addition to the Russian-trained Kochetkova, a recent recruit from English National Ballet, as the adult Clara and the athletic yet lyrical Armenian-born Karapetyan as her cavalier prince, the large cast includes Damian Smith as Uncle Drosselmeyer and Pierre-François Vilanoba and Yuan Yuan Tan as the Snow King and Snow Queen. Vanessa Zahorian is the Sugar Plum Fairy. Dance in America viewers will remember Yuan Yuan Tan for her stunning portrayal of Desdemona in Lar Lubovitch’s Othello from San Francisco Ballet (2002).

The ballet, which was first performed in Russia in 1892, holds a special significance for San Francisco Ballet, America’s oldest professional ballet company. It had its U.S. premiere there in 1944.

Tchaikovsky’s beguiling score is one of the most popular pieces of music ever written. Think “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and “Waltz of the Snowflakes.” Inspired by E.T.A. Hoffman’s 1816 story, The Nutcracker and The Mouse King, it was first proposed to Tchaikovsky by legendary choreographer Marius Petipa as a follow-up to Tchaikovsky’s other successful ballets at Russia’s famed Mariinsky Theatre: Swan Lake (1877) and The Sleeping Beauty (1890). The composer began work on it in 1891.

The work premiered at the Mariinsky in December of the following year, with choreography by Lev Ivanov, taking over for an indisposed Petipa. The ballet completed a double bill, appearing with Tchaikovsky’s opera Iolanta. Reviews were disappointing for both. While Tchaikovsky thought much of Iolanta, he felt the ballet score was not among his best work. Some 115 years, countless performances, and myriad LPs and CDs later, many would disagree.

San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker was recorded on stage in performance at the War Memorial Opera House December 19 and 21, 2007. It is a co-production of San Francisco Ballet and KQED Public Television San Francisco, in association with Thirteen/WNET New York. Past co-productions of the triad include San Francisco Ballet’s The Tempest, A Song for Dead Warriors, Cinderella, and Lar Lubovitch’s Othello.

Matthew Diamond (Dance in America’s Emmy Award-winning Swan Lake with American Ballet Theatre; GREAT PERFORMANCES’ Crazy for You) directs; Judy Flannery (GREAT PERFORMANCES’ Emmy Award-winning A Streetcar Named Desire From the San Francisco Opera) produced. Michael Isip is Executive Producer for KQED.

An expanded version of San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker, featuring additional behind-the-scenes interviews with the production’s creators and a background piece on the 1915 World’s Fair, is available on DVD from Opus Arte/Naxos of America.

Major corporate funding for this telecast was provided by First Republic Bank, a division of Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust, Co.

GREAT PERFORMANCES is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, Vivian Milstein, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS.  Special funding for the telecast was provided by Jim and Cecilia Herbert & Family. Additional support was provided by The Flora Family Foundation and members of the San Francisco Ballet’s 75th Anniversary Sponsors Council: major sponsors include the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, The Hellman Family, and Yurie and Carl Pascarella; with additional sponsors including Stuart Francis and Diana Stark; Stephen and Margaret Gill Family Foundation; Cecilia and Jim Herbert; George Frederick Jewett Foundation, Lucille Jewett, Trustee; Barbara Ravizza and John Osterweis; Kathleen Scutchfield; The Smelick Family; The Swanson Foundation; Ms. Susan A. Van Wagner; E.L. Wiegand Foundation; Diane B. Wilsey; and Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang.