Those with trained eyes for performing arts may have noticed a few intriguing details in The Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker at the Triple Door.
The shoes are just a little more glittery than the ones you’ve even seen in upscale department stores. The poses dancers strike fall in line with Russian ballet teachings. And wait... is that an originally rearranged jazz version of the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”?
You nailed it. This show is on another level. We talked with co-founder and Snow Queen Lily Verlaine about the elements of this glamorous show running through Friday, Dec. 30.
Tell me a little bit about your background in the performing arts.
I essentially emerged from the womb being like “Ta-da!” I was born in Dearborn, Michigan and my mother would been an aspiring ballet dancer, so she put me in ballet when I was three. My debut was with the Pamela Duckworth School of Dance as a “Skunk with personality.”
Then my mother got remarried and we moved all over. I was getting really serious about ballet so I took classes with the San Francisco Ballet, the Walnut Hill School, a small company in Chicago. The San Francisco Ballet is where I met Bruce Wells, who we call our Aesthetics expert. He’s worked under Balanchine and Jerome Robbins; he was at the New York City Ballet in the 60s and working directly with those artists. He really helped me understand American ballet where most of my training was Russian.
I got into burlesque after meeting this guest singer for the Dusty 45s at this live show. They were a burlesque dancer and invited me to see their show the next night. I decided that these were my people and they invited me to audition. My first show was opening for Dita Von Teese at the Showbox.
Where did the idea for the Land of the Sweets come from?
I had just seen another version of “The Nutcracker” and I was very put off by the fact that their Coffee included this beautiful peacock who was a caged woman. They let her out and made her dance, and it was always a role that I wanted to play — but never like that. So, I had this big idea that I wanted to push back on the patriarchy and how they represented women in ballet.
Japser McCann [Lily’s business partner] got us a meeting with The Triple Door to pitch the idea and they went for it. Our first year, we had two or four performances with a six person cast, so the show’s just exponentially grown.
The show features a wide range of dance types. There’s pointe work, tap, and aerial numbers involved. Do you teach classes or do people join in already trained?
We’re affiliated with organizations who give classes, but we don’t give them ourselves. I’ll say that we attract trained artists who we then teach them to be burlesque. We’re like a school from within.
How long do you rehearse before a show?
That depends on how many returning cast members I have. The pandemic really changed everything. This year, we ended up with 15 new artists, which has been so invigorating because it gives us the opportunity to look at the material through fresh eyes again.
We held an audition in July and started rehearsals in November. And I am like a workhorse. I basically plowed through the entire show in a week and a half and then refined it over several weeks.
Something unique in this show was all the little ways in which the choreography seems to be built around each costume’s distinct characteristics. Were these custom-made or did you just happen to find these incredible pieces?
Every single piece is bespoke and made with high-quality materials. We use genuine silk, Swarovski rhinestones; we use Mongolian lamb’s wool. The opening number costumes are all glass-beaded and hand-upholstered. The wigs are designed by Shelby Richardson who does the wigs for the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Mark Stone who is also working with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and who has done stuff for Ms. America, redesigned the opening snowflake boss costume. Louisa Delange did the huge, beautiful peacock tails in Coffee.
I just think, you know, we can see quality and I love presenting a quality product.
Did you write all of the choreography? Or are the numbers collaborations?
The opening number choreography is the original from the first year of the show. The Court of the Snow Queen came in later. That was written by a burlesque performer named Paula the Swedish Housewife. The shadow dance was created by Paula Oliver — who’s stage name is Babette LaFave — and we added that about four years into the production.
But yeah, the rest of it was original by me. Except the aerialist work. I am not in any position to tell anyone what to do with when they are 10 feet off the ground. I’m like, please just don’t fall whatever you do. So they tend to adapt that to their own skill set.
We do also have like four bars of choreography from a really beautiful variation by Josh Grant for the Baroness of Bon Bons now that we’re using some of the classic Sugar Plum Fairy music.
The music is also original, right?
Yes, so Jasper McCann — who is an amazing lyricist and an incredible musician — basically pulled themes from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” and arranged them for a nine piece jazz orchestra. And Kate Olson, our bandleader, did some of the compositions as well. As did Michael Owcharuk, our pianist.
Tell me about the set designs.
Julia Welch did the set designs. I met her because I did an event at 12th Avenue Arts called “reSET,” which gives local dancers a couple of days to play on fully-realized sets a few days after a play closes. I made a version of “Giselle” on this beautiful set design by Julia, and we asked her to come in and please redesign our sets.
So she did the trees and that gorgeous red fan in Tea. She won a couple of awards for that device. We’re very lucky to be working with her.
How do you decide what to change from year to year?
I think a lot of it is that we try to read the tones of the times. We’ve been active for 17 years, so as social consciousness evolves, we try to respond to feedback.
