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Times Leader P.M. Update: Wednesday, Jan. 20

&ldquo;You&rsquo;re doing magic,&rdquo; Gina Malsky told Oliver Lew, who was wearing a cape as part of his costume and a mask to combat the coronavirus.
				&ldquo;Magic, magic, magic,&rdquo; the choreographer repeated, showing Lew how she wanted him to wave his arm over several dancers who were portraying dolls about to come to life in the Dance Theatre of Wilkes-Barre&rsquo;s production of &ldquo;The Story of the Nutcracker.&rdquo;
				A camera crew from umbrella bloc captured that moment during a rehearsal several weeks ago, and it&rsquo;s become part of a documentary that chronicles the way Malsky, DTWB&rsquo;s determined artistic director, has worked hard to keep her dancers healthy while making sure they still had the chance to perform their traditional holiday ballet.
				On Sunday afternoon, dancers and their families gathered at Movies 14 in downtown Wilkes-Barre to watch a snippet of umbrella bloc&rsquo;s documentary, along with the entire recorded dance production of &ldquo;The Story of the Nutcracker.&rdquo;
				And, from a reviewer&rsquo;s point of view, it was &ldquo;magic, magic, magic&rdquo; all the way.
				There was magic and drama in the story&rsquo;s lively opening scenes, with a party-throwing mother fussing and a maid dusting while Kaitlyn Smith and Gabriella Randazzo portrayed Klara and Fritz as if they were &#8230; well, we might call them ballet&rsquo;s Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Sibling Rivalry.
				There was a lot of fun built into the early scenes, as Klara shook a wrapped gift, the better to guess what might be inside, and Fritz seemed to think he&rsquo;d be able to hide a toy sword from his mother, just by holding it behind his back.
				As for the mysterious party guest Drosselmeyer &mdash; portrayed by guest artist Oliver Lew, who is a senior at Wyoming Seminary &mdash; he convincingly gave the impression, up until the last minute, that he hadn&rsquo;t made up his mind whether to hand that most interesting present, the Nutcracker, to Klara or to Fritz.
				In case you&rsquo;re wondering, Klara got the Nutcracker.
				And, thanks to umbrella bloc&rsquo;s camera wizardry, viewers were able to watch Klara and Fritz tussle over the toy from an angle ballet audiences usually don&rsquo;t see.
				Throughout the show the magic continued with some exquisite dancing. Lucy Lew, who is Oliver&rsquo;s younger sister, brought equal grace to her roles as the Dewdrop Fairy, Queen Mouse and as the maid with the feather duster; Gabriella Randazzo portrayed a regal Snow Queen and fine Flower Princess as well as the mischievous Fritz. And Kaitlyn Smith demonstrated excellent pointe work both as Klara in the party scene and as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the magical dreamland that follows.
				Guest artist Ava Rittle was a dazzling Nutcracker, guest artist Ethan Blakeney was a polished cavalier, and the Land of Sweets was full of treats, including Jordan Medley as a spirited Spanish dancer, Julia Godfrey in an oh-so-supple Arabian number; Mia Adelstein and GiGi Ruderman in the perky Chinese variation, Hallie Dixon and Melina Ospina-Wiese as graceful Marzipan and Emma Granahan and Mckenna Granahan showing off their sister power as an energetic Candy Cane duo.
				In other scenes the tiniest DTWB ballerinas were led by older dancers who showed them how to cross the stage, perhaps with a skipping step, or perhaps by leaping over a flower on the floor.
				Whether they successfully emulated the older girls, or simply ended up running straight across the stage, the &ldquo;littles&rdquo; were captivating in their cuteness. And someday this recording will probably be among their most treasured mementos.
				It already is a treasure for the teen-age dancers.
				&ldquo;We love it,&rdquo; some of the leads said, almost in unison, as they departed the theater.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still shaking,&rdquo; Lucy Lew said with a smile.
				Before the screening, Steve Husted from umbrella bloc said the documentary is almost complete and he plans to submit it to film festivals soon, when the coronavirus pandemic is still fresh in people&rsquo;s minds.
				That way, viewers will be better able to appreciate the challanges Malsky and her team faced as they wiped down surfaces in the dance studio, gave dancers temperature checks and handled a dancer&rsquo;s temporary quarantine when she learned she might have been exposed to the virus at her high school.
				&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want it to be like, &lsquo;oh, yeah, remember when we had to wear masks,&rsquo; &rdquo; Husted said.

Dance Theatre of Wilkes-Barre stages classic ballet after all