The Nutcracker: Past, Present and Future

On December 16, 1956, Georgia Lloyd Jones, a ballet student, took the stage in Tulsa’s first performance of The Nutcracker. She and seventeen other young students danced the Snow Scene, with Moscelyne Larkin and Roman Jasinski, newly retired from dancing with the Ballet Russe, performing the lead roles. That night marked the first performance of the company that would become Tulsa Ballet.

In the 1970's , after years away, Georgia, now Snoke, moved back to Tulsa with her family, now including a husband and two daughters, and returned to the studio. Her eldest daughter became, at age five, the first 'Baby Angel' in The Nutcracker; her youngest daughter moved through the ranks and the years into the coveted role of 'Clara', and year in and year out Georgia performed with them as 'Frau Silberhaus,' the mother.

Fast forward to today: Georgia continues her involvement with the Nutcracker through her roles as the Ballet Mistress and Queen in Marcello Angelini’s production, but also behind the scenes. Georgia, along with Mackie Sutton (also a former dancer), and Merry Lahti (whose daughter was a mouse in the late 1980’s), volunteer their time to audition and train all of the children.

While the current version of The Nutcracker, choreographed in 2002 by Marcello Angelini, uses fewer children than the traditional Jasinski version (although still more than 100 are cast), the young performers are asked to “do more,” including dance and act. In order to ensure that the product maintains the excellence audience members expect from Tulsa Ballet productions, the children must prove their talent for performing as well as willingness and ability to learn quickly.

An elementary school teacher, Merry begins her work during summer so that she can focus only on her teaching when school starts. She prepares the audition notice in July so that it can appear in August publications and she, Mackie and Georgia recruit volunteers to help with the September auditions. At the auditions, there are three major character groups--mice (the smallest), soldiers and Ballet School students. Some of the latter are in soft shoes, the older girls en pointe, and several are boys (with serious ballet training behind them) who provide the antics in the ballet class scene.

“Auditions are hard,” says Georgia. “ Children are auditioned as much by how attentive they can be when watching others as by how they perform. We are picky because we want children who can focus throughout multiple rehearsals, and then confidently appear on stage with professional dancers in front of an audience that has paid good money to see a gorgeous ballet. This is not a recital. It is serious business.

“On the other hand, it is great fun, too, and our goal is to have each child leave his or her "Nutcracker" experience knowing that he is better than he began and has contributed to the success of a thoroughly professional production. That and that alone is our pay...our reward...for hours of effort and energy.”