‘Nutcracker’ reaches silver season

Tom Titus

What’s the longest-running Christmas holiday tradition in local

theater? If you said “A Christmas Carol” at South Coast Repertory, you’d

be wrong -- that show has only been around for 22 seasons.

Huntington Beach’s Ballet Repertory Theater, however, is putting the

finishing touches on its silver anniversary production of “The

Nutcracker.” The production opens Dec. 14 for a two-weekend engagement at

Golden West College’s Mainstage Theater.

And guiding the yuletide classic for all 25 of those years has been

the Repertory Theater’s artistic director Anthony Sellars and his wife,

Terri, who have trained all 250 of the company members at their

Huntington Beach studio.

Most of the performers in “The Nutcracker” have taken part in the

annual production since the age of 4, beginning as baby mice and

progression to angels, soldiers, party girls, ponchinellas and, at 13,

joining the company to portray the various character roles.

“This is a unique, home-grown approach to ballet,” commented Terri

Sellars, who is on the sidelines this year, but who has performed in

nearly every past production (“except when I was having babies,” she

adds). Those babies have grown into ballet artists, and Chris, 16, Kevin,

11, and Katie, 9, all are part of the “Nutcracker” company.

The show also is unique in that it survives on ticket sales alone. The

company has a support guild that raises money for costumes and scenery

and, over the years, has acquired its full production, even its own dance

floor. Costumes are replaced as needed, and the result is a colorful,

traditional production.

The dancing Sellars family, all native Californians, are Huntington

Beach residents. Tony and Terri met in 1972 and began teaching -- and

mounting the annual “Nutcracker” ballet -- in 1977, the same year they

were married, after dovetailing careers that included performances with

the American Ballet Theater and the Joffrey Ballet.

They started the Ballet Repertory Theater in 1977 because, as Terri

explains, “There was no regional ballet, only Ballet Pacifica in Laguna

Beach. We felt the need existed for professional training in the local

area.”

The Sellars’ approach to “The Nutcracker” may be a bit different from

the traditional mode. “Tony wants to entertain the audience,” Terri says,

“and there’s a lot of theatricality in the ballet. We also want to make

the show available to people who can’t afford to go to the Orange County

Performing Arts Center,” she adds.

This explains the bargain-basement admission price of $12.50 for

general audiences and $10.50 for children and senior citizens. Even at

those prices, the company has never been in the red, Terri says proudly.

Enthusiasm among the young dancers is “phenomenal,” Terri Sellars

declares. “Each August, they’ll start talking about getting ready for the

show, and how many more weeks are left until the performance.”

The Ballet Repertory Theater has been so successful that four other

local dance companies have been organized by graduates of the Sellars’

program.

“Our object is to entertain and make people love ballet,” Terri

maintains. That includes the boys, who are more plentiful in the company

these days. “It’s not as hard as it used to be to get the boys involved

in dance,” she observes.

The Sellars’ company also presents an educational series for local

children prior to the production where the art of ballet is explained and

the first act of “The Nutcracker” is presented.

Performances of “The Nutcracker” will be given Dec. 14, 15, 21, 22 and

23 at 7 p.m. with matinees Dec. 15, 16, 22 and 23 at 2 p.m. A special

Christmas Eve matinee will be presented at 1 p.m., a 25-year tradition

that, Terri says, “always sells out early.”

Tickets may be ordered by calling the Golden West College Bookstore at

(714) 895-9150. Information: (714) 846-0215.

CUTLINE: Anthony and Terri Sellars perform in their company’s first

“Nutcracker” in 1977 with Kate Ketchum.

CUTLINE: Megan Elliott plays the Sugar Plum Fairy in this year’s

“Nutcracker.”

CUTLINE: The Sellars children -- Chris, 16; Kevin, 11, and Katie, 9 --

all perform in “The Nutcracker” at Golden West College.