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NUTCRACKER GRADs
continued

wand. For a child, she's a vision of what a ballerina should be."

Like every other child who appears in NYCB's production, Fugate was a student at the School of American Ballet, the company's official school. She appeared as an eight-year-old, and was paired for the last two years with Jean-Pierre Frohlich, now a company soloist. "I remember very clearly the first time I saw Judy," says Shaun O'Brien, who has played the part of the mysterious Drosselmeir for more than three decades. "She was the prettiest creature I'd ever seen. I remember telling people, 'I have just seen the quintessential Nutcracker Princess."

Fugate was instantly caught up in the ballet's magic. "I remember kneeling on the stage and watching the tree grow for the first time," she relates. "It was so breathtaking that I got goos bumps--and I continue to get them to this day at that moment in the ballet."

After she outgrew the part of Marie, Fugate spent two years as a candy cane. "But once I got too big for that, there were a terrible couple of years where I couldn't get into the ballet in a child's role, and I wasn't old enough to be in the company." She made up for lost time when she joined NYCB in 1973.

"For the first two years I was a parent, a snowflake, and a Chinese girl, and I appeared in all 42 performances both years," she says. "That's not unusual when you first get in the company, and at that point you're just happy to get out onstage. But it does get a little monotonous."

Fugate has played virtually every adult role in the ballet, but none is as special as the Sugar Plum Fairy. "I first did the part on December 14, 1978, with Sean Lavery," she offers. "I couldn't have asked for a better partner. It was a very special moment, a dream come true. And I'm still fond of the role, probably because I grew up in the ballet."

Fugate has also watched others grow up in the ballet--she even "mothered" one of them. "The first time I appeared in the The Nutcracker I was a child in the party scene," says Peter Boal, one of the company's newest soloists. "Judy was my mother, and I still call her 'mom' sometimes. Of course, she was probably 17 when she played my mother."

Boal participated in the party scene for two years, then spent two years as the Nutcracker Prince. One of his earlier stafe memories is of an encounter with George Balanchine. "There was a very specific moment in the first act where my father was going to kiss someone's hand," hr says, "and I had a conspiracy going with one of the other boys to yank my dad away so that he couldn't kiss her. Mr. B picked me up and said, 'Now, kick me like you hate me.' So the first thing I ever did with Mr. B was hit him and kick him."

It is difficult to imagine Boael engaged in such behavior, even in jest, as he is one of the most lyrical dancers in the company. "I think I can tell if a child has something special," claims O'Brien, "and that was the case with Peter. He was already princely. He was polite, low-key, simple, refined, and elegant--just like he is now."

Boal has appeared in a number of roles in The Nutcracker since joining NYCB, but the one that means the most is that of the Sugar Plum Fairy's Cavalier, which he did for the first time two years ago. "It's not a very interesting part," he admit, "because there's not much to do. But I was thrilled to perform it, because it was like the completion of a cycle. I started as the youngest, the smallest, the most intimidated child in the party scene, and 11 years after my first Nutcracker, I was a Cavalier."

This year all the aspiring young dancers in The Nutcracker will closely watch Fugate and Boal and the other Sugar Plum Fairies and Cavaliers, and dream their dreams. And who knows, someday down the road, they might very well turn that fantasy into a reality. It's been known to happen.

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