Robert Joffrey

During the yearlong existence of the Joffrey Ballet's "Nutcracker," Sugar Plum Fairies have come and gone, but there's been only one Drosselmeyer, that mysterious figure in the eye patch and cape who guides the child-heroine, Clara, from her Christmas Party to a magical Candyland. Night after night, plus matinees--more than 40 times this season alone--the distinguished British character dancer Alexander Grant has appeared as a guest with the Joffrey in his first U.S. appearances since 1976.

"These are not the easiest times, I tell you that from my heart. . . . " With a passing reference to his private grief, the Joffrey Ballet's newly appointed artistic director, Gerald Arpino, discusses the era in the company's history that began on March 25 with Robert Joffrey's death. "The saving grace is that Bob and I had been together for 31 years collaborating on practically every project that the company has undertaken," the 60-year-old choreographer and former associate director says.

A reconstruction of the original Vaslav Nijinsky choreography for "Le Sacre du Printemps" (1913) and a production of Sir Frederick Ashton's full-length "La Fille Mal Gardee" (1960), with Stanley Holden re-creating his original role of Widow Simone, are scheduled to premiere in Los Angeles during the Joffrey Ballet's upcoming seasons, Robert Joffrey annnounced Tuesday.

When the Joffrey Ballet returns to San Diego tonight for a four-performance run at the Civic Theatre, it will be a homecoming of sorts for the company and an opportunity for San Diego balletomanes to renew an ongoing love affair with the first world-class dance troupe to include the city on its regular touring schedule. "Joffrey started here (with the San Diego Foundation for the Performing Arts) the same year it started the bicoastal arrangement with Los Angeles, so we've had a special bond since 1983," said Suzanne Townsend of San Diego Performances, local sponsors of the Joffrey.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center and the National Ballet of Canada are holding "serious discussions" toward bringing the Toronto-based company to Costa Mesa in June, 1988, spokesmen for the two organizations said this week. The company's Costa Mesa appearances, planned for June 7 to 12, would be part of the company's first West Coast tour since 1977 and would include its critically acclaimed ballet "Alice," based on Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland."

"Billboards," coming to the Orange County Performing Arts Center next week, isn't the Joffrey Ballet's first rock-music ballet. Far from it, in fact. In 1967, Robert Joffrey himself created the company's first work set to rock: the multimedia "Astarte" to music by Crome Syrcus. Gerald Arpino, co-founder of the company with Joffrey in 1956 and its sole artistic director since Joffrey's death in 1988, followed with "Trinity" to music by Alan Raph and Lee Holdridge in 1969.

With the movie version of "Evita" opening Wednesday, it's no accident that the stage production upon which the movie is based is nowhere to be seen. The Robert Stigwood Organization, which produced the original Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical that opened on Broadway in September 1979 and still oversees the stage rights, recently placed a temporary freeze on further licenses to produce the stage version in the U.S.

Yes, Virginia, another "Nutcracker." Everybody wants to get into this instantly adorable, perennially kitschy, eminently profitable yuletide act. On Peter Ilyich, on Marius, on Lev, on E.T.A., on Dancer, on Prancer. . . . The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo led the way for us back in 1940, touring the land with its abridged ode to Tchaikovsky, Ivanov and tippy-toe sugarplums.

"The Nutcracker" takes place on Christmas Eve, but the holiday favorite is danced on that night about as rarely as dolls become handsome princes. As it turned out, the magic of the evening didn't ensure a special event when the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago opened a seven-performance run Tuesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Some of the reasons are built into the familiar production.

We have another "Nutcracker." Some people just can't get enough of a profitable thing. Drosselmeyer and Robert Joffrey be praised, after a fashion. Every regional company that commands a tutu or two and can get its hands on a Christmas tree has a "Nutcracker," of course. The adorable children, tippytoe dancers, ethereal sugarplums and sacrificial mice who do their sweet ritualistic things to glorious Tchaikovsky accompaniment have become a national cliche.