Classical collaboration
By Casey Gillis on Dec. 06, 2007
By Casey Gillis, The Burg
/385-5525
For Adam Sage, the holidays just aren’t the same without “The Nutcracker.”
“For me and for a lot of people, it just rounds out your holiday,” says Sage, Virginia School of the Arts’ (VSA) new artistic director. “It’s something every child should see.”
VSA and E.C. Glass High School’s annual collaboration of the classic ballet is set to debut at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13 in the E.C. Glass Auditorium. It will also be performed at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14 and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 15 and 16.
“For me, ‘The Nutcracker’ needs to be very magical,” Sage says. “It’s really a children’s story. You want children and adults alike to … be transported.”
This year, in addition to some new choreography, the dancers will also don new costumes, which came as part of the Richmond Ballet set VSA just purchased.
Sage says it’s common practice for costumes and sets to be created to go together.
“Normally,” he says, “when you’re doing any kind of full-length ballet, like ‘Swan Lake,’ ‘Nutcracker’ or ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ the concept is usually brought together by the costume designer, the set designer and the artistic director, mostly for uniformity.”
Not doing those things together would be like “somebody building your house and painting it without any regard to what you’re going to put into it.”
With this particular production, Sage says it’s nice to have so many people from different parts of the community involved.
“I would really love to see that grow and blossom, that more and more children would want to be involved,” he says. “Then it really becomes Lynchburg’s. I think that’s probably the single largest wish that I have, that Lynchburg sees this as their ‘Nutcracker.’”
Tickets to the show are $18 for adults and $10 for children and seniors. Reserved seating is $25. Tickets are available at VSA (434-847-8688), the Glass auditorium box office (open 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, starting Dec. 6), Given’s Books, Mountain Frost Creamery on Boonsboro Road or online at http://www.ecglass
theatre.org. J
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