Paramount stages scenic NW Ballet 'Nutcracker'

Pacific Northwest Ballet's "Nutcracker" and The Paramount Theatre look like they were made for each other.

The gold vines that run riot over the walls and ceilings of the restored movie house are a perfect match for the leafy foliage that adorns Maurice Sendak's set. The fantastic furbelows of Sendak's scenery and costumes and the exuberant filigreed interior of the historic theater made for a visual continuity you could almost hear chunk into place this weekend when the ballet opened its monthlong holiday run.

The Kent Stowell/Maurice Sendak "Nutcracker" was designed in 1983 for the Seattle Opera House, so the complementary design features were a lucky side effect of a practical move. "Nutcracker" will be performed at the Paramount this year only while the opera house is under renovation.

Saturday night's performance looked beautiful in this jewel-box setting. The many fabulous scenic effects — walls closing in and spinning, a giant mouse puppet, eddies and swirls of snowflakes — went with their usual clockwork. The children from the Pacific Northwest Ballet School took their place alongside the professional dancers with charming competence.

The evening, however, was not without its bumpy moments. Worried murmurs met an announcement that although Patricia Barker was listed in the program she would not be dancing. (A minor injury, I was told later, which will not interfere with her upcoming scheduled performances.)

Two corps dancers fell down simultaneously in the second act. It's extremely rare to see a dancer fall at PNB and two toppling at once pointed to a stage condition, perhaps snowflakes left over from an earlier scene. Gaps showed up in the seams connecting parts of the Christmas tree when it grew to nearly 30 feet.

A few gaps could not destroy this magical effect. It reminds us vividly of what it was like to be a child when a decorated tree towered above you and seemed to grow in stature and personality the more you looked up at it. The audience broke into applause when the tree's transformation was complete, as it does at every performance of "Nutcracker."

Haley Holman, as young Clara, beautifully caught the vulnerability and joyful yearning of the child whose dreams and nightmares make up the story of the ballet.

PNB principal Carrie Imler danced as adult Clara with strength and distinction, beautiful turns, light, high jumps and generous extensions, a grown-up persona that any child could look up to, but perhaps a touch more of the younger Clara's vulnerability would have been welcome.

Ariana Lallone, leading the Waltz of the Flowers, also danced with strength, finesse and rapidity. Batkhurel Bold was her attentive, although rather cool prince. Character artist Flemming Halby brought out both the creepy and the comic side of the overly attentive Godfather Drosselmeier.

In addition to the aptly glowing interior of the Paramount, the downtown location has its benefits. On Saturday night there was something pleasantly 19th century about seeing families in holiday spirit window-shopping as they made their way to the theater.