(L-R) Abigayle Krewson as the Snow Queen, Sheridan Bensinger as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Jenna Reber as the Dew Drop Fairy and Alexa Brown as Clara in Schuylkill Ballet Theatre’s “The Nutcracker” PHOTOS BY LINDSEY SHUEY
Originally published in the Pottsville Republican-Herald on November 22, 2021.
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - When 15-year-old Alexa Brown heard that she got the part of Clara in Schuylkill Ballet Theatre's 42nd annual production of "The Nutcracker," she thought the Theatre had made a mistake.
"I was really shocked when I first got Clara," the freckled freshman at Pine Grove Area High School said. "I thought they said the wrong name. It's so exciting to be Clara, and I thought I'd never get it."
Brown's grandmother took her to see "The Nutcracker" when she was 6, and she has loved it ever since. The audition, however, wasn't dew drops and sugar plums.
"It's a big day where everyone comes in with all the audition material learned," said 17-year-old Sheridan Bensinger, who plays the Sugar Plum Fairy for the third time this year, "and it's with three anonymous judges who don't know us."
"Something like that," Brown said, laughing.
"But we all love each other so much," Bensinger said, "and we're really a family, so we're excited for everyone even if we didn't get the role."
For the dancers of the Schuylkill Ballet Theatre, the annual performance of Tchaikovsky's immortal ballet is like a birthday, or Christmas. It is a reminder that another year has passed, and that everyone has grown a little bit older.
"It's a marking of time every year," said Greg Schuettler of Port Carbon, who plays the Nutcracker Prince. He will dance with Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy.
"Greg is honestly the best," Bensinger said. "I tend to get really anxious around showtimes, and he's such a calming person to be around. He'll just remind me to breathe, and that if I make a mistake on stage, it's okay.”
Abigayle Krewson and Greg Schuettler
Schuettler has been involved in the Schuylkill Ballet Theatre since he was 4, and has played the Prince so many times that he’s lost count. He's often been teased for being a male ballerina, but he doesn't care because he loves what he does.
"I just enjoy partnering, the trusting of the two dancers to work off of each other," he said.
The "Nutcracker" performance is also a time to spend with loved ones.
Jill Krewson, SBT Vice President and Abigayle's mother, said that the ballet is a family tradition, especially on Thanksgiving weekend when extended families are in town.
"I try to take on this older sister, motherly persona, in the Land of Sweets," Bensinger said. "So I try to think of the good times I had with my siblings. I'm Alexa's older sister. You can't tell me otherwise!"
Sunday, with less than a week left until opening night, was the big rehearsal. The Schuylkill Haven Area High School auditorium was filled with the smell of perfume and the tapping of pink slippers. Little girls stared longingly at the titular nutcracker, which had a detachable and re-attachable head for when Herr Drosselmeyer magically puts the broken gift back together.
Alexa Brown as Clara, dancing with her nutcracker
Bensinger and Abigayle Krewson fastened each other's costumes. The two have been friends, Bensinger says, "since diapers." Krewson, also 17, plays the Snow Queen for the third and last time this year.
"It's so weird that it's my last one," Krewson said. "It's very sad but I'm also beyond happy. The snow music has always been my favorite, and to dance that music for the last time, is really special."
"The Nutcracker" has been the soundtrack of their lives and childhoods.
"Every year, it wasn't Thanksgiving, it was 'Nutcracker' weekend," Bensinger said. "Every year I was watching in awe like 'Yes, this is what I want to do when I'm old enough.' there are songs that I love, and there are songs that are like 'Okay, this is getting a little old.'"
"The second August hits, it's 'Nutcracker' season," said 15-year-old Jenna Reber, who plays the Dew Drop Fairy. "I feel like from August to the end of November, that's all I listen to. Just the memories that correlate to it, it's amazing."
The choreography of assistant director Sarah Schimpf is based on the skill level of the dancers, and Tchaikovsky's musical Romanticism.
"I feel like it speaks to you," she said about the composer's iconic score. "It tells you what to do. For us, it's the epitome of Christmas. We start rehearsing in June, but it just hits this week of Thanksgiving preparation. It's like a magic, and it continues on into the Christmas season."
Schuylkill Ballet Theatre will perform the Nutcracker at the Schuylkill Haven Area High School auditorium on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are available online and are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students and $6 for children between the ages of 3 and 10.
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