'Pied Piper' bids Fernando adieu

By SCOTT WHITED
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
The pied pipers of the Sangre de Cristo Ballet Theatre for nigh onto the last decade have been the wife-and-husband team of Artistic Director Karen P. Schaffenburg and her husband, Artistic Adviser Fernando Schaffenburg. Fernando is best known to the Pueblo public as Herr Drosselmeier, the mysterious enchanter that he played for many years in SBT's annual production of "The Nutcracker."

Sadly, a week ago Friday, Fernando Schaffenburg went to join the Great Ballet Company del Cielo at the grand old age of 83. Saturday's performances of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," the latest entry in the Children's Playhouse Series at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center, were dedicated to his memory. His former charges did him proud.

The hour-long production told of the popular folk tale in which the title character rids Hamelin of an unpleasant infestation of mice. When the town council refuses to pay up, the piper lures all of the town's children off and away, ne'er to be seen again.

The moral for the hundreds of children in the near-capacity crowd? Always pay the piper. Whether they understood the moral or not, most of the children - and their accompanying adults - enjoyed the goings-ons.

Emily Aldag as the Piper and her Lieutenant Piper, Rebecca Van Dover, were green-clad in tights reminiscent of this weekend's St. Patrick's Day festivities. They entranced both their mice and children targets with lithe aplomb, especially Van Dover. The plethora of pesky mice was led by Sydney Gettel as the Queen Mouse and Megan Duling as the Princess Mouse. Gettel has matured into possibly the company's finest young ballerina, and this performance was demonstrative of her lovely dancing skills. She was precise in her footwork, beautiful in her posture, and warm in her personal presentation. Duling was a delightful complement to Gettel. She is quickly blossoming into one of the corps' stalwart fixtures.

The "Rainbow" of Paige Cipperly, Grace Lobato, and Cissy McDaniel brought entertaining elan to their featured dance, sporting solid-red, solid-white, and solid-blue full-length leotards as the Piper wound her musical web around their befuddled resistance. They combined bemusement and amusement in proper teen-age proportions.

The balance of the troupe, consisting of some 40 members, acquitted themselves well, their brightly energetic performances complemented nicely by a simple-yet-effective set design by Timothy F. Gately and a wide variety of complementarily colorful costumes designed by Jennee Duling.

Fernando and Karen Schaffenburg worked closely with Sydney, Emily, Paige, Grace, Megan, Cissy and Rebecca, as well as most of Saturday's other performers, over an extended period of time. Their expertise and guidance will continue to bear fruit, even now that one of them has moved on to a greater gig.

Vaya con Dios, Herr Drosselmeier.