Thursday, December 3,1987/The Battalion/Page 7 Oakland Ballet performers offer mystical showing of ‘Nutcracker’ SCHULMAN THEATRES 2.50 ADMISSION 1. Any Show Before 3 PM 2. Tuesday - All Seats 3. Mon-Wed - Local Students With Current ID'S 4. Thur - KORA "Over 30 Nite” ‘DENOTES DOLBY STEREO By Tom Reinarts Reviewer The average age of the audience for the Texas A&M Memorial Stu dent Center Opera and Performing Arts Society show Wednesday eve ning at Rudder Auditorium was con siderably lower than it has been for past performances. The major rea son for this was the fact that the “Nutcracker” was being presented and many children were attending. The Oakland Ballet provided the dancers and the music, written by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovski, was played by the Brazos Valley Symphony Or chestra. The ballet was choreo graphed by Ronn Guidi and, accord- Review The Snow Cavalier lifts up the Snow Queen in the first act of the “Nutcracker,” as performed by the Photo by Robert W. Rizzo Oakland Ballet. The cavalier was played by Ron Thiele and the queen by Erin Leedom. ing to the show program, has been performed by the Oakland Ballet since 1972. The ballet company was founded in 1965 by Guidi. The company, which has a total of only 28 mem bers, has a rep- -■ utation for doing unique, innovative and historically sig nificant works. In the past it has pre sented ballets such as Bronislava Nijinska’s “Les Biches” and “Les Noces,” as well as other contempo rary pieces. The program also states that Guidi’s interpretation of “Nutcrack er” follows the original story written by E.T.A. Hoffmann rather than the ballet adaptation by Alexandre Dumas. “Nutcracker” tells the tale of a mystical Christmas. When the mag ical Uncle Drosselmeyer and his nephew visit the children Marie, Fritz and Louise, he gives them each a gift, and the toy nutcracker is given to Drosselmeyer’s favorite niece, Marie. After an entertaining evening Marie dreams that the toy nut cracker comes to life as a prince. In the dream the mouse king chal lenges the prince to capture Marie but finally is defeated. Marie and the prince then are escorted through the Land of Snows to the Kingdom of Sweets for a celebration. The best performance of the eve ning was given by Michael Lowe as the Rose Cavalier. He is a talented dancer with strength and excellent execution. Erin Leedom as the Snow Queen also gave a strong perfor mance. The show was light-hearted with humor used in several places. When the children Marie, Louise and Fritz were playing, the antics were amus ing, as was the dance of the ginger children, who were portrayed by children from the Oakland Ballet Academy. The costumes and scenery were not lavish but still retained the flavor of the classic tale. The outfit for Drosselmeyer was the best, but those for the snowflakes were disappoint ing. The Brazos Valley Symphnoy Or chestra, led by Franz Anton Krager, provided excellent accompaniment for the ballet. , MANOR EAST 3 Manor East Malt 823-8300 TE9 WOlf T06 pq £8 HRS MB & A BABY pq £8 CRDEHELLA a Trtt BUT BORN po MB PLAZA 3 226 Southwest Pkwy 693-2457 1 ‘FATAL ATTRACTION r w\ PLANS, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES r m I ‘HELLO AGAIN pq m I SCHULMAN 6 2002 E. 29th 775-2463 UKE FATHER UKE SON pqi3 tg PRMCESS BRIDE pq-is il $ DOLLAR DAYS $ STAKEOUTr £9 CAN’T BUY ME LOVE 7? m THEPtCKUPARnUTpo m THE LOST BOYS r m SHORT ON CASH??? Sell your BOOKS at University Book Store Northgate 8c Culpepper Plaza CASH for gold, silver, old coins, diamonds Full Jewelry Repair Large Stock of Diamonds Gold Chains TEXAS COIN EXCHANGE 404 University Dr. 846-8916 3202-A Texas Ave. (across from El Chico.Bryan) 779-7662 Warped Ok, sore youve busy that' Viight... koW come you always promise, but titver call? Do you j reoJW wa-nt to ste. / me or r>oT ? 0b, ri$kt You 5 Parker <3. .C N. Main £ 3: 0 Courthouse Texas Avenue Mary’s Bridal Shoppe 303 W. 26th Downtown Bryan 775-6818