Stanton Welch's production of The Nutcracker for Houston Ballet emphasizes Clara's vivid imagination and strength as the protagonist who drives the story. Welch connects the fantastical events of the second act to people and objects from the first act that Clara encounters, showing how her dream reflects her reality. By presenting the story as unfolding within Clara's imagination, Welch turns Clara into an active heroine who overcomes challenges instead of just observing strange events. This interpretation highlights Clara's maturation and strength of character.

1. WHEN IT CAME TIME to set a new
production of The Nutcracker for Houston
Ballet, choreographer and Artistic
Director Stanton Welch made sure his
production delivered the elaborate
spectacle audiences have come to expect
from the classic. A Christmas tree that
grows larger and larger before our eyes,
dancing snowflakes, exotic and fanciful
characters brought to life, and more fill
the stage as we are whisked away into a
splendidly sweet dreamland. Yet, these
aren’t the only reasons that this particular
version of the magical ballet is an awe-
inspiring holiday treat. The true magic
in Welch’s take on the familiar story lies
in the strengths of Clara, the ballet’s
young protagonist.
With immeasurable whimsy, the gran-
deur of this production of The Nutcracker
rests on the imagination of Clara and her
inventive reinterpretation of her reality,
set within the world of her dreams. As
choreographer, Welch expertly designed
his production to showcase Clara’s vivid
imagination. Discerning members of the
audience will recognize that everything
in the second act’s Land of Sweets echoes
people and objects from the first act. “I
wanted to connect Act 1 to Act 2,” explains
Welch. “And, it’s really important to [cos-
tume and set designer] Tim [Goodchild]
and me that everything that occurred in
her dream were somehow things that she
had seen or connected to in her real life.”
To make this vision work, Welch had
to slightly tweak the narrative during
the first act from that of past iterations.
“Straight away, I wanted to make Dros-
selmeyer explain the story of the Sugar
Plum because I felt that was never clear,
that no one really understood what was
going on,” he says. In Welch’s version of
the ballet, Drosselmeyer recounts the
tale of the Sugar Plum, presenting her as
a princess whose beloved is turned into a
wooden figure by an evil king. The tears
she cries turn the evil king into the Rat
King. After being told this wondrous tale
of lovers cruelly separated, Drosselmeyer
gifts Clara with a wooden nutcracker—all
of which colors her dream as we witness it
in the second act.
Yet, that’s not the only bit of storytell-
ing that Welch clears up with his slightly
altered first act. “I wanted to make it
educational in the fact that Drosselmeyer
is this big world traveler and he gives
each of the children in the party scene
the toys that then become the figures in
Childlike
WonderStanton Welch blends dream, reality, and strength to create our beloved holiday heroine,
Clara, the driving force behind his re-envisioned The Nutcracker.
»
BY DAVID CLARKE
MónicaGómezinTheNutcracker,photobyRobertSeale
HOUSTON BALLET ✺ 1918 ✺ HOUSTON BALLET

2. ArtistsofHoustonBalletinTheNutcracker,photosbyAmitavaSarkar
Across:ArtistsofHoustonBalletinTheNutcracker,photosbyAmitavaSarkar
REGAL AND REFINED, the
Sugar Plum Fairy is, like many
characters, a fantastical twist
on one of Drosselmeyer’s
magical toys—the Sugar
Plum Doll. Watch in the Party
Scene as the lifelike doll tells
how the Sugar Plum Fairy and
Nutcracker Prince came to be.
LIONS, BULLDOGS,
AND BEARS, OH MY!
Seven enchanting animal
ambassadors join the
international dancers in
Welch’s Act 2. The characters
are also indicative of Clara’s
dreamy state, hailing from Act
1 where they were originally
seen as holiday gifts.
IN THE WAY ONLY A CHILD
COULD IMAGINE, the Land of
Sweets is a saccharine dream.
Scan the costumes of the
Sugar Court to spot chocolates
and candies galore.
CLARA’S TRUE CROWNING
MOMENT appears with the
return of the Rat King in Act 2.
By showing him compassion
and forgiveness, her youthful
kindness allows her to be the
bravest character of all.
Childlike Wonder
BY DAVID CLARKE
What to Watch For
Act 2,” Welch says. “Part of Drosselmey-
er’s show is talking about these foreign
countries, and Clara goes to sleep imag-
ining all these foreign places and what
they’d be like.” Welch effectively uses
Clara’s imagination to create unmistak-
able connections between the two acts
to explain the different flights of fancy
that occur in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s
score for the ballet. In his setting, the
sudden appearance of locales like Arabia
and China do not feel random, but
instead are purposeful and intentional as
Clara, maybe only subconsciously, feels
empowered to explore the entire world
around her because of Drosselmeyer’s
enchanting production.
Presenting The Nutcracker in a way
where the tale takes place in a world cre-
ated by Clara’s own brilliant imagination
allows Welch to create a central heroine
that is more than just an observer in a
strange land. As the architect behind the
fantasy, his Clara is imbued with strength
and agency that sets this iteration apart
for audiences who have seen other
versions of this holiday-themed classic
story ballet. “She’s driving the story,”
states Jennifer Sommers, Houston Ballet
Director of Education and Community
Engagement. “In other versions it feels
like the story happens to her.”
In this timely interpretation of
The Nutcracker, the audience watches
Clara mature from a child to a strong
young woman. For example, Welch’s
Clara overcomes fear by vanquishing
the Rat King herself, she personally
reunites the Nutcracker Prince with the
“She’s driving
the story.”-Jennifer Sommers,
Houston Ballet
Director of Education
and Community Engagement
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HOUSTON BALLET ✺ 2120 ✺ HOUSTON BALLET

3. ArtistsofHoustonBalletinTheNutcracker,photosbyAmitavaSarkar
Childlike Wonder
BY DAVID CLARKE
Sugar Plum Fairy, and she benevolently
teaches the reunited lovers compassion
by urging them to forgive the Rat King
instead of fighting him or imprisoning
him for his evil actions. “Clara really is
not just physically brave, but shows the
broadest, most mature emotional range of
all,” Sommers highlights.
Driving her own dream, Welch’s Clara
is not a passive character in this ballet.
“She is the pivotal character of the story,
and I certainly have always tried to make
sure that the leading female characters
in the story ballets that I do are deci-
sion-makers,” explains Welch. Creating
strong females in ballets comes naturally
to Welch. Raised by a single mother,
Marilyn Jones OBE, the acclaimed Aus-
tralian dancer, and surrounding himself
with female directors caused him to
grow up in a world where women made
decisions, earned the income, and ran
the family. So, crafting female leads that
aren’t passive observers or damsels in
distress is nothing new to him.
With Clara, specifically, Welch recog-
nized that she needed an obvious story
arc with a beginning, middle, and end
since she is the leading female character.
To achieve this, he deploys a full circle
trope centered around her and her toys.
“She starts off as a naïve child who is
playing with toys and finishes as a young
woman who is putting her toys away and
realizing how much she loves her family
and how important that is. I think that
shows her growth,” he says. “This is why
she triggers each decision and why she’s
involved in both acts entirely. She bare-
ly leaves the stage.”
This splendid spellbinding rendition
of The Nutcracker is a joyful holiday treat
where girls can exhibit strength through
building their own destinies, fighting for
love to win, and judiciously exhibiting
benevolent empathy to those who have
wronged us or others. With a keen eye
for quality storytelling, the themes of
feminine strength are gently layered in
and fully realized through some large and
some surprisingly small details that con-
nect the two acts. As the lights dim and
the curtains rise, can you spot all of the
20 links between the two acts that Clara
has created for us? We venture those who
have held on to a bit of their childlike
wonder are up for the challenge.
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