The Prince, Tristan Ghostkeeper, and Clara, Kyra Sinclair, perform in The Nutcracker

Prince George, B.C. –  For 20-years, attending a performance of The Nutcracker by Judy Russell’s Enchainement Dancers has become an annual tradition for many families in this city.

Last night’s premiere was the first of five weekend performances at Vanier Hall featuring the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, with guest conductor Kevin Zakresky.  It was the culmination of hundreds of hours of practise and preparation put in by the cast of more than 100 and 30 crew members.

For Judy Russell, too, the weekend is about family – those directly related to her and the ones who’ve grown to become extended family members through their continued involvement in this yearly production. 

There’s Chris Larsen – who played the original Nutcracker Prince, left the city to pursue his career, and is now back teaching at Russell’s Dance Studio and mentoring the young performers in this year’s edition.  There are Nadine Doyle, Kristen Helfrich, and Kristie Alderson who all played Clara and other lead roles in past productions and now help behind the scenes.  Shawn Petriw has been involved for 14 years and handles marketing for the show – he moved to Prince Rupert earlier this year, but has driven back to once again take to the stage.

And there’s the PGSO’s guest conductor himself, Kevin Zakresky.  The former Prince George resident has had a long working relationship with Russell, starting as a 16-year-old pianist and continuing through productions like Westside Story and Jesus Christ Superstar.  Russell says Zakresky was already a gifted pianist when he came to her studio as a teenager to learn to accompany dancers.  She was thrilled when told he’d be auditioning for the position of conductor of the PGSO through this weekend’s collaboration.

As for immediate family members, Russell’s son, Andrew, is taking on the role of the mysterious Uncle Drosselmeyer, formerly played by her husband, Bill.  (Andrew is shown in photo at right, arriving at ‘the party’ with his gift of a nutcracker for goddaughter, Clara)

"It’s quite exciting to watch that unfold because, of course, he’s very similar to his father – similar in stature and build and has quite a lot of the nuances of his father, so that’s lovely," she says.  "But he also has ‘fresh’ eyes and a fresh look at some of the things he’d like to do with that role, so that’s exciting."

"My middle son, Matthew, is replicating the role that his grandfather created in the show and his lovely new wife is replicating the grandmother role – actually I think the only other married couple we’ve had on-stage was my parents – so it’s kind of neat."

While Russell says the performances are always bittersweet, this year is made even more so by the fact her mother, Bunny Murray, lost a courageous battle with cancer this past summer.  ‘Mrs. M’ – as she was known to all – lives on in the production, with her voice still providing the story’s narration.

It took Russell almost the entire month of August 20-years ago to meticulously choreograph her version of The Nutcracker.  She says there is, "Lots of full circle" with this year’s performances.  "I didn’t want to change too much this time – I wanted to complete that and do it exactly the way that I’ve always seen it in my mind’s eye."

But, she says, who knows what the future holds for The Nutcracker.  "We’re kind of talking that what we do is we ‘break the mold’ and we freshen it up," says Russell.  "Perhaps a little bit of a re-vamp in the stylistic ‘look’ of it – something that will maybe stand up for the next 20-years."

For more information on tickets for today and tomorrow’s performances – at 2pm and 7:30pm – you can call Studio 2880 at 250-563-2880 and there will be a few tickets available at the door.

photo below shows a scene from ‘the party’ taken during Thursday’s dress rehearsal