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`Nutcracker'
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20750 Hoover Road (3 miles south of 1-696)
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Call Mickey at 586-756-2400.

757400

A scene from "The Nutcracker": Audiences will see 180 new costumes and a collection
of sets designed by children's book illustrator Alain Vaes.

"Let's meet under the mizletoe:'

Tickets make a sensational gift.

BEGINS TUESDAY! DECEMBER 9 - JANUARY 4

Tickets also available at The Fisher Theatre Box Office. all

tickelmaster outlets or at www.ticketmaster.com . Groups (20+): (313) 871-1132 or visit vmmnederlanderdetroit.com

FISHER THEATRE

www.lesmis.com

Special to the Jewish News

.

Les Miserables

CALL TICKETMASTER: (248) 645-6666

SUZANNE CHESSLER

ohanna Bernstein Wilt won't
be dancing in the Cincinnati
Ballet's touring performances
of The Nutcracker, but she will
have had an influence on everyone else's
stage work.
Wilt serves as ballet mistress for the
company she first joined as a ballerina
in 1981.
"I work in conjunction with the
artistic director and ballet master to
rehearse the dancers and make sure
they know all the parts they are to do,"
says Wilt, 46, whose company will per-
form Dec. 5-14 at the Detroit Opera
House to the music. of the Michigan
Opera Theatre Orchestra.
"This is the first year that the chore-
ographer, Val Caniparoli of the San
Francisco Ballet, did not come back to
Cincinnati to work with the company,
so we are going from videotapes and
memories to reset the dance.
"I like this production because it car-
ries more of a warm, family story line.
Although. the lead Nutcracker dancer is
sometimes a child, this production is
danced by one of the professional
dancers."

Wilt feels a . special affection for the
ballet, which features a Tchaikovsky
score and is based on E.T.A. Hoffman's
original tale. She danced it every year
from the time she turned 14 until she
retired as a dancer at age 34.
"I think The Nutcracker is a wonder-
ful tradition as people look for family
things to do during the holidays," says
Wilt, who grew up in an inter-religious
family of various traditions with
Judaism coming from her father's side.
"It's a way to get together and enjoy the
spirit of this holiday time in the winter,
when it's bleak and cold."
Wilt is in daily rehearsals with the
professional troupe, which will be
working with more than 80 local chil-
dren as they take on the younger roles.
She is concerned about the stamina
needed for the production as dancers
convey what is supposed to be the
dream world of the main character,
Marie, who envisions what happens
after a doll comes to life.
Audiences will see 180 new costumes
and a collection of sets designed by
children's book illustrator Alain Vaes. A
90-foot Christmas tree was planned to
give a magical perspective for the make-
believe characters being portrayed.

NUTCRACKER on page 88