Years have smiled on rendition of classic

Is there any ballet moment as exciting as the first few notes of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker”? When the production is the annual collaboration between Robinson Ballet Company and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono, the answer is surely: No. It’s not only that the event, which took place Saturday and Sunday, fulfills a holiday need to celebrate the season, but that this particular version of the beloved ballet proves the potency of popular art.

The show will be reprised, without the BSO, this coming weekend at The Grand Auditorium in Ellsworth.

In the end, of course, you’ll always be able to find another “Nutcracker” somewhere else that has other assets: a stronger male corps, a ballerina with a more poetic line, dancers who can wow with the Russian Cossack’s deep-knee bends and kicks. But when it comes to community spirit, this annual production has only grown in value over two decades.

The BSO is no small partner in the effort. After more than 20 years of working with RBC, the symphony musicians could easily phone this one in. But they don’t. Led by Maestro Xiao-Lu Li, the BSO gave a spirited account of the score on Sunday. A brief appearance by the Bangor Area Children’s Chorus, headed by Michele Bremner Hall, heightened the experience. So did Bernard Miller’s impromptu exhibition of percussion instruments for children hanging over the rail to the orchestra pit during intermission.

The glittering gold of this past weekend’s MCA show, however, was the increasing dramatic component choreographers Keith Robinson, Maureen Lynch, Stevie Dunham and Kelly Holyoke have added over the years. There’s a genuine sense of humor at play here, the success of which can be measured by the many giggles heard in the audience as the dancing lambs wiggled their cottony tails or when one of the battling rats climbed to the top of a window set piece and shimmied a spindly leg in the air.

More than ever, the creative team has worked at layering this production. The gifts Drosselmeyer brings to the children of the Silberhaus party foreshadowed events yet to come in the second half. Robinson, once in the more glamorous role of Cavalier, now endows the elder Drosselmeyer with a more magical presence. The show opened in his mysterious workshop where his creations – human-size dolls played first with stiff perfection and later with graceful mechanics by Kathleen Clark, Katie Taylor and Audrey MacLean – come to life. In Robinson’s portrayal, Drosselmeyer is both godfather and sorcerer, and his mojo turns the night into a dreamscape for young Clara and, undoubtedly, for the children in the audience.

In her third go as Clara, Amanda Fahy has claimed the role. She’s bright, animated and focused, qualities which work nicely with the spell cast over her. She skillfully jumps into her various parts, but she can also make her moves prissy when the tension mounts between her and the feisty John Warren as her mischievous brother Fritz.

The highlight of the second half was the “Coffee from Arabia” divertissement, led by the elegant Katrina Smedal. Smedal also showed up in a number of other featured spots that are balletically rather than athletically demanding – and she was up for those roles, too. In the course of about 30 minutes, Jesse Dunham, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, became more and more captivating. And the young and poised Ava Smith, ballerina for the Mother Ginger crowd, is clearly a dancer to keep an eye on.

Robinson Ballet has yet to hatch another ballerina as fine as Maureen Lynch, however. Lynch played the Snow Queen this year with her usual magnetic and, indeed, poetic talent. She’s a stand-out, and that’s one thing that has not changed at all over the years.

Robinson Ballet Company will present “The Nutcracker” at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, and Sunday, Dec. 11, at The Grand Auditorium, 165 Main St. in Ellsworth. For tickets, call 667-9500. Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.