Glenbard West’s Bobby Durkin (33) puts down a dunk against Glenbrook South. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

Due to factors beyond their control, the Hilltoppers had never experienced a truly memorable high school basketball moment until Sunday in Norridge.

Glenbard West’s talented group of seniors has been playing together for years. They’ve earned college scholarships and received all the preseason hype that accompanies the area’s top-ranked team.

But due to factors beyond their control, the Hilltoppers had never experienced a truly memorable high school basketball moment until Sunday in Norridge.

Ridgewood coach Chris Mroz’s annual shootout is a regular stop on the calendar for die-hard fans. It’s always the Sunday after the Chicago Elite Classic, so the crowd generally consists of the diehards and some parents.

That wasn’t the case Sunday. Mroz lined up one of the best games of the season: Glenbard West vs. Glenbrook South. Both teams have multiple players signed with DI colleges and both are ranked in the top five.

The gym was packed and the game lived up to the hype. Glenbard West held on to win 57-54.

The Titans had two shots to tie it at the end. Cornell recruit Cooper Noard missed a three-pointer and Elon recruit Nick Martinelli grabbed the rebound and missed a desperation turnaround three at the buzzer.

“Playing in a game like this was good for us because we definitely took a lot of punches in the gut,” Hilltoppers senior Braden Huff said. “And we aren’t used to that so it was good to get that under our belt.”

Noard scored 21 points and was 7 for 16 from three-point range. His hot shooting helped the Titans (6-1) get back into the game after Glenbard West (6-0) jumped out to a 33-14 lead in the second quarter.

Paxton Warden, the only Hilltoppers starter that hasn’t committed to a college, scored 20 points.

“He’s always there ready to rise to the occasion,” Huff said. “That might have been a surprise to some other people but we all expect that out of him. The biggest strength of this team is that we are well-balanced.”

Huff, a Gonzaga recruit, finished with 17 points and Bobby Durkin added seven. Ryan Renfro had six points and five rebounds for Glenbard West.

Warden was 4 for 5 from three-point range but his biggest bucket of the game was a tip-in with 2:26 left to give the Hilltoppers a 56-52 cushion.

“It’s definitely motivation [being uncommitted to college],” Warden said. “All my teammates deserve whatever offers they’re getting. I’m not trying to be selfish but I’m trying to prove a point.”

Glenbrook South isn’t as experienced as the Hilltoppers. Noard and Nick Martinelli (16 points) are two of the best players in the area but juniors Rodell Davis Jr. and Gaven Marr also start. The Titans get another big test on Thursday at New Trier.

Glenbard West is at Yorkville Christian on Friday and plays Hillcrest in the Team Rose Classic at Mount Carmel on Saturday. The Hilltoppers have a loaded schedule with many more challenges to come, but they passed the first one.

“That was a great game,” Glenbard West coach Jason Opoka said. “Great environment. We’re just so thankful to have the opportunity to play with fans against one of the best teams in the state. They shot it really well and we battled and I thought our boys showed their toughness.”

Watch the final minute of Glenbard West vs. Glenbrook South:

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cuban Comet, “Mr. White Sox” led way in voting from Golden Days Era committee

Minnie Minoso, baseball’s first Black Latino player and one of the most exciting players in White Sox history, is a Hall of Famer.

A trailblazer known as “Mr. White Sox” and the “Cuban Comet,” Saturnino Orestes Armas Minoso, who died in 2015, was elected Sunday. along with former Sox Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva and Gil Hodges by the Golden Days Era committee.

Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neil were elected by the Early Baseball Era Committee, which considered a 10-person ballot of candidates whose primary contribution the game came prior to 1950.

Minoso was a nine-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner as an outfielder (he also played third base) in 17 seasons and 1,835 career games with the Indians, White Sox, Cardinals and Senators. Minoso also played three seasons in the Negro Leagues.

Twelve votes (75 percent) were needed to get in, and Minoso led the way with 14, with Hodges, Kaat and Oliva getting 12 each. Former Sox first baseman Dick Allen fell one vote shy with 11 votes.

Roger Maris, Billy Pierce, Maury Wills, Ken Boyer and manager Danny Murtaugh were also on the ballot. The Golden Days Era Committee considers candidates whose primary contribution to the game came from 1950-69. Of the group, Kaat, Oliva and Wills are living.

Candidates required 75 percent from the 16-member Golden Days Era Committee comprised of Hall of Famers Rod Carew, Fergie Jenkins, Mike Schmidt, John Schuerholz, Bud Selig, Ozzie Smith and Joe Torre; major league executives Al Avila, Bill DeWitt, Ken Kendrick, Kim Ng and Tony Reagins; and veteran media members/historians Adrian Burgos Jr., Steve Hirdt, Jaime Jarrin and Jack O’Connell.

Minoso received the most support.

“The one thing he really should get credit for and doesn’t is he’s a Black Latino pioneer,” baseball historian, statistician and author Don Zminda told the Sun-Times in May. “He was the first Black Latin player in major league baseball and he doesn’t get credit for that.”

“He was our Jackie Robinson,” Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda famously said.

Like Robinson, Minoso was not just a pioneer but a skilled, exciting player.

“As a pioneer he should be recognized,” Zminda said, “but he was a tremendous player.”

From 1951-60, Minoso was second among American League players in Baseball Reference wins above replacement behind Mickey Mantle, and ahead of Ted Williams, Nellie Fox and Yogi Berra. Only Mantle scored more runs, only Fox had more hits, only Mantle and Yogi Berra had more RBI and only Luis Aparicio had more stolen bases during that period.

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Andy Dalton gets sacked in the fourth quarter on Sunday. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

A bad loss to Arizona drops them to 4-8 and puts another nail in Matt Nagy’s coffin.

I’d like to say that there were no surprises Sunday, that watching the Cardinals pound the Bears 33-22 was the expected result. But it’s the ghastly way the Bears lost that was remarkable, and given how ghastly this season has been, that’s saying something. I thought they had run out of ghast.

Andy Dalton threw four interceptions. That’s four as in four. You kind of felt bad for the Arizona defenders who didn’t manage to pick off a pass.

Blame it all on Dalton if you want. Blame it on the rain that fell at Soldier Field, making the ball slippery. Blame it on Dalton’s headset acting up in the second half. Blame it on whatever you want. That’s the point, isn’t it? It’s always something with this team. Sometimes it’s the defense. Sometimes, it’s the quarterback (pick a quarterback). Sometimes it’s the coaching. Sometimes it’s a lack of talent.

This time, the culprit was a wheelbarrow of interceptions. Next time it will be, I don’t know, tainted omelets from the pregame meal.

For coach Matt Nagy, it was another nail in a coffin that’s already studded with them. There was no energy to this game. Even Dalton’s interceptions didn’t seem to do much to incite the Fire Nagy! crowd. The game sat there like a deflated balloon. Wouldn’t the humane thing be to put this season out of its misery? Of course it would, but I checked, and it’s against NFL rules.

It meant that we had to listen to Nagy torturously use the concept of team character to try to offset Dalton’s bad day.

“Four turnovers are going to hurt,” he said. “Our guys know that, and they care.”

Listen, Matt, caring is the absolute baseline for any athlete who happens to be breathing. Patting players on the back for caring is like handing out participation trophies. What makes players and teams excellent is much, much more than that. It’s about skill, intelligence, coaching and good drafting, among other things.

The Bears might be the caringest (new word) team in the league, but they’re 4-8.

Nobody cares about caring.

Last week, the Bears beat the inconsequential Lions 16-14 to end a five-game losing streak. Nagy acted as if it were a rousing referendum on all he had done in his almost four years with the team. Sunday’s loss to Kyler Murray and the first-place Cardinals was further proof that the Lions game was a joke, not that any more proof was needed.

The Bears aren’t going to the playoffs, OK? Stop with the nonsense that they’re still mathematically alive. I’m statistically alive for the Mr. Universe title. Why keep hope alive when there’s barely a pulse? What’s the point? Surely it’s not that you want Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace to keep their jobs.

Only the Bears could turn a season of hope about an exciting young quarterback into a funeral procession. Only the Bears could turn the exclamation points about Justin Fields into question marks. The rookie sat out his second straight game with cracked ribs. The only thing you could say — and you’d want to say it carefully and quietly — is that Fields might not have thrown four picks against Arizona. But it says a lot about his lack of development this season that you wouldn’t want to make any grander assertions.

Unfortunate things seem to attach themselves to struggling teams. Last week, it was an erroneous report that the Bears brass had told Nagy he was going to be fired after the Lions game. That created a firestorm. This week, it was the radio communication between Dalton and offensive coordinator Bill Lazor going out in the second half. Nagy used a walkie-talkie to relay Lazor’s plays to Dalton for most of the half.

It’s always something.

But, as Nagy very much wants you to know, his players care a lot. The amount of care and devotion that the Bears have for each other apparently is off the charts.

“Ain’t going to be no moping around,” running back David Montgomery said after the game. “I ain’t built like that.”

No, he’s not. It often takes two or three defenders to tackle him. But it helps, a lot, that he’s also an excellent athlete. The Bears could use more of those. And a star quarterback would be wonderful, too. That might end up being Fields. Who knows? I don’t. Nor do you or whoever might be in charge of the team after this season.

Just to be clear, I don’t mean to disparage Dalton’s athleticism. Did any other NFL quarterback have two tackles after interceptions Sunday?

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St. Ignatius’ Noah Davis (10) takes the ball to the basket against Chaminade. | Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

All the scores from around the area.

Please send scores and corrections to [email protected]

Sunday, December 5, 2021

NONCONFERENCE

Yeshiva 59, Cruz 18

KISKI PREP, PENN.

Lawrenceville Prep, N.J. 64, Lake Forest Academy 49

RIDGEWOOD

Glenbard West 57, Glenbrook South 54

Maine South 49, St. Viator 34

Taft 75, Ridgewood 44

Yorkville Christian vs. St. Patrick, 4:30

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Protestors lead the way with a banner declaring “We Walk for Her” during a march earlier this year to call attention to the dozens of unsolved slayings of Black women in Chicago. | John W. Fountain

“The Hunt for the Chicago Strangler” on Discovery+ is, in some ways, an indictment of police and city officials, and perhaps against anyone who has turned a deaf ear to this tragedy that occurred beneath our noses.

The title is sexy, the story isn’t.

It is gory — horrific, even. Not your average tearjerker but a real gut-puncher that touches the soul. One of America’s most glistening cities serves as a perhaps unlikely backdrop for a new three-part documentary series about the mostly unsolved strangulation murders in Chicago of 51 women, mostly African American, from 2001 to 2018.

Spoiler alert: “The Hunt for the Chicago Strangler,” produced for Discovery+ by Canadian-based Entertainment One, doesn’t really break new ground.

And for anyone who has followed the story — which, although undeniably underreported, has gained traction in the last few years in the local press, thanks to the diligence of some of the victims’ families, community activists and others — it may indeed fill in some blanks. But it will not, in the end, bring the cases any closer to being solved.

And yet, none of this diminishes the series’ worth as a stirring, necessary narrative and investigative insertion into the larger fundamental discussion of why Black women’s lives — and murders — specifically in these cases, in Chicago, still don’t matter. So, my advice: Keep it locked.

The series roars, even as its matter-of-fact, precise storytelling snakes from the Far South Side to the West Side, capturing the voices of families teary and deeply broken over their loved one’s death and the absence of justice. An assorted cast of characters help shape the history and context of this modern-day horror, in which the slain women have been asphyxiated or strangled, discarded like trash, set on fire or dismembered.

It is must-see TV and, in some ways, an indictment of police and city officials, and perhaps anyone who has turned a deaf ear to this tragedy that occurred beneath our noses, and that still, to date, has caused no massive public outcry.

The documentary is not apologetic. Avoids pointing fingers. Raises good questions. Shines the light on sometimes uncomfortable truths by holding up a mirror to a Chicago divided by race and class. And on neighborhoods beyond the Magnificent Mile, where the killer or killers disposed of their victims in alleys, vacant lots, abandoned buildings.

The series is compelling, seamless in its vignettes of each family woven within the timeline of the killings. It is explicit in exploring the city’s long history of racial discrimination, the exodus of the Black middle class from the South and West Sides, leaving behind the poorest of the poor, those for whom Harvard University sociologist William Julius Wilson coined the phrase “The Truly Disadvantaged.”

The documentary, vibrant in its cinematography and conveyance of emotion and incalculable human loss, includes snippets of home video and firsthand historic context of Black Chicago. From the Great Migration and Dr. King’s effort in 1966 — to bring attention to the plight of America’s Black poor by moving with his family to an apartment on Chicago’s West Side — to current scenes of life and also lack. From Englewood to North Lawndale, where Sears, Roebuck and Co. and other businesses, once an economic lifeline for some Black families seeking a slice of the American dream, have long since faded.

The documentary seems to leave almost no stone unturned, speaking with longtime community activists, police top brass, journalists, and Thomas Hargrove, whose Murder Accountability Project has theorized, using a computer algorithm, that at least one serial killer is behind the slayings.

At its most powerful, the documentary moves in close to capture the stories of the women, with precision — intimate stories of flesh, blood, heart and soul as told by their families, for whom the wounds are still fresh. Among them are the father and daughter of Angela Ford, the first victim, strangled in 2001. Their visible sorrow is our window into the lingering loss exacerbated by the absence of justice surrounding these cases.

Also among the survivors interviewed are the families of Nancie Walker and Gwendolyn Williams, as well as Riccardo Holyfield, whose cousin Reo Renee Holyfield was among the slain women.

They are, for me, familiar faces that I or my students at Roosevelt University encountered during our year-long project in 2020 to humanize the women, spurred by the absence of media attention.

I was approached to be interviewed for this documentary but declined, respectfully. I wasn’t interested in being a part of any project titled, “…The Chicago Strangler.” For this story, at its core, isn’t about the killer, or killers. It is about the women killed.

When this documentary shines its brightest, that’s exactly what the story’s about.

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Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles (5) looks to shoot while Connecticut’s Christyn Williams defends. | Jessica Hill/AP

Sonia Citron had 19 points to lead Notre Dame, which had its final lead at 10-9 in the first quarter.

STORRS, Conn. — UConn won its rivalry game against Notre Dame but may have lost last year’s national player of the year to a knee injury in the process.

Paige Bueckers scored 22 points before going down with just seconds left in No. 2 UConn’s 73-54 victory over No. 24 Notre Dame on Sunday.

Bueckers, who is averaging a little more than 20 points per game, was dribbling up the court in the final minute of this one when she stumbled, twisting her ankle and coming down awkwardly on her left leg. She went to the floor a few seconds later and had to be carried off the court.

Coach Geno Auriemma said she injured her left knee but did not appear to twist it. He said the extent of the injury won’t be known until scans are completed on Monday.

“The initial report is, she might have hyperextended it,” Auriemma said. “But I think the first thing that goes through your mind is the worst thing.”

Olivia Nelson-Ododa added 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Huskies (5-1), who dominated underneath, outrebounding Notre Dame 45-32 and outscored the Fighting Irish 28-16 in the paint.

UConn freshman Caroline Ducharme scored a season-best 14 points and Aaliyah Edwards chipped in with 10.

Freshman Sonia Citron, coming off a 29-point game against Michigan State, scored 19 points for Notre Dame (7-2), which had its final lead at 10-9 in the first quarter.

The Huskies led by 10 points at halftime and by 12 early in the second half. But Notre Dame used a 6-2 run to cut the lead to 51-44 headed into the fourth quarter.

The Huskies took over from there. A 3-pointer from Bueckers made it 56-44 and UConn scored the first 13 points of the final quarter to put the game away.

“We played competitively for three quarters,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said. “And in the fourth quarter they ran away with it. I think it’s a credit to UConn. They are a really great team. Unfortunately, we got outrebounded and I thought that was the difference.”

UConn fell behind early, before going on a 7-0 run to take the lead for good. The Huskies ended the first quarter leading 16-12.

A 3-point play by Nelson-Ododa after an offensive rebound gave UConn a 28-23 lead and sparked a run that saw the Huskies score 10 of the final 12 points in the half.

A long pass from Bueckers to Christyn Williams, who laid the ball in just before the buzzer, sent the Huskies into halftime leading 35-25.

UConn had 14 of its 18 second-chance points in the first half, while holding the Irish to just four during the game.

“We definitely celebrated the win, but we were definitely more concerned about Paige and just how she was feeling and her status right now,” Nelson-Ododa said. “You know, we’re praying for the best and praying for good news and just kind of waiting for the outcome.”

BIG PICTURE

Notre Dame: This was Niele Ivey’s first game against UConn as a head coach. The Irish are now 13-39 all-time against the Huskies, 0-9 in the month of December and 9-11 over the last 20 meetings.

UConn: Before the game, UConn dedicated a monument outside of Gampel Pavilion honoring the school’s Olympians, including 16 former Husky women basketball players. Eleven of those won gold medals, led by Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, who each have five.

HE SAID IT

Auriemma was asked why Bueckers was on the floor in the final minute of what turned out to be a 19-point win. He said there is no good explanation for that.

“She never wants to come out,” he said. “She’s a pain in the (behind) to have on the bench, ’cause all she does is complain about why she’s not playing and we’ve made a concerted effort in the last three or four games to get her some rest during the game.”

POLL IMPLICATIONS

UConn likely will remain near the top of the poll, but how long it stays there may depend on the extent of Bueckers’ injury. Notre Dame’s losses have come to No. 20 Georgia in overtime and to UConn, which may be enough to push them outside the Top 25.

UP NEXT

Notre Dame: Continues its road trip with a visit to Valparaiso on Wednesday.

UConn: Travels to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech on Thursday.

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Andy Dalton throws against the Cardinals on Sunday. | Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Andy Dalton’s first interception — only three plays into Sunday’s game into a joyless exercise. His second one, thrown later in the first quarter, sealed the game.

Andy Dalton’s first interception — only three plays into Sunday’s 33-22 loss to the Cardinals — turned the game into a joyless exercise. His second one, thrown later in the first quarter, sealed the game.

Cruelly, there were two-and-a-half hours of football left to play. Those sitting in the freezing rain at Soldier Field had to know that. Those that didn’t leave at halftime certainly started walking out before Dalton’s fourth interception set up another Cardinals score halfway through the fourth quarter.

Unlike the Bears’ last home game, there was no overwhelming chorus of chants calling for coach Matt Nagy’s job. By the final gun, maybe one out of every 10 fans that walked into Soldier Field for the opening kickoff was still in their seats.

The soggy, angry Bears fans have entered the apathy phase. That’s the bad news.

Now the worse news: there’s nothing to be apathetic about next week, when the Bears have a real chance to lose to the rival Packers in prime time by 30 points.

Whether Dalton will be the quarterback then is immaterial. His performance Sunday didn’t matter — not in the big picture, at least. He’s got five games left on his Bears contract, and was left to throw to returners Jakeem Grant, Damiere Byrd and Rodney Adams, among others.

What does matter is whether the Bears can assemble a game plan to not get embarrassed next time. Sunday’s approach amounted to trying to win a rugby scrum in the rain, leaning on short passes and handoffs to the tireless David Montgomery.

Trailing by 14 early, though, made that task impossible. On third-and-6 78 seconds into the game, Dalton threw a crossing pattern pass too high for the Lilliputian Grant. Primarily a return man, Grant batted the ball into the air — and into the arms of safety Jalen Thompson.

Three minutes later, the Bears were down seven.

With about four minutes left in the first quarter, tight end Cole Kmet ran a route, turned and appeared to catch the ball — only to fumble the ball into the air as he fell to the ground. Star safety Budda Baker — whom the Cardinals drafted in 2017 with a draft pick the Bears traded them — plucked the ball out of the air and returned it 77 yards. About two minutes later, the Bears were down 14.

Excitement was hard to find the rest of the way. In the third quarter, Dalton lined up at receiver, caught a lateral, ducked a tackle and threw a 34-yard completion to Grant in the third quarter. Early in the fourth, a roughing the kicker penalty gave the Bears the ball back — and Dalton threw an interception on the next play.

All along, the Cardinals offense made scoring seem so easy — and the Bears made it seem like the study of quantum physics.Their three touchdown drives came on 12, 13 and 13 plays, the Cardinals content to make Dalton scratch out three yards at a time.

He finished with four interceptions, completing 26-of-41 passes for 229 yards and two interceptions for a 54.9 passer rating.

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A child imagines her new nutcracker (Jose Pablo Castro Cuevas, right, with Temur Suluashvili) transforms into a prince in the Joffrey Ballet production of “The Nutcracker.” | (C) Todd Rosenberg

Carefully altered for its transplant to the Lyric Opera House, the holiday favorite still feels fresh and spontaneous.

The Joffrey Ballet’s magnificently reimagined “Nutcracker” is only six years old, and last year the grand ballet didn’t happen at all. No wonder it seems like giddy victory at the Lyric Opera House, where Christopher Wheeldon’s 2016 production, a celebration of Chicago’s audacious spirit in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire, has been so neatly re-fitted that it seems yet again new.

Bathed in gilding of the freshly refurbished Lyric Opera House, and awash with the Russian romanticism of Tchaikovsky’s 1892 music as magnificently played for the Joffrey by the Lyric Opera Orchestra, there is a fairy-tale quality to this uniquely Chicago version of an adolescent girl’s fantasy that her wooden nutcracker comes to life as the prince of her dreams.

The girl, known as Clara in the Tchaikovsky original, is now Marie. She lives with her brother and their widowed mother among fellow worker families in a neighborhood of shacks at the foot of a project rising behind them — the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

Tchaikovsky’s sparkling ballet is generally set in an upper-class household of Imperial Russia, but in this twist, the only touch of gold we see is in the hands of the girl’s mother, a sculptress shaping what looks like a model of the Fair’s iconic statue. The guests are the mother’s skilled but poor laborer friends, gathering to celebrate the holiday in her humble abode, and this is where an impressive visitor arrives to bestow gifts, including a nutcracker for Marie, whose romantic dream constitutes the rest of this tale.

Given the Great COVID Disruption, or whatever future historians will call the current era, a fairy tale seems just right in this time. This year the company undertook an ambitious schedule of 24 performances, rotating among popular stars on its roster and putting in many first-time opportunities for children and young dancers. In all, it feels like a spontaneous party, but that belies the many intricate adjustments to make this move to the Lyric.

Scenery was re-spaced onstage, because the depth is different than it had been at the Auditorium. And that meant spreading some of the overhead scenery, adjusting some dancer positions, adding a few steps to reach certain spots, and making other minor differences in the complex mix, according to production director Cody Chen.

The audience experience, which was looking downward into a fishbowl setting at the Auditorium, is also different, especially from the main floor. The stage seems straight ahead, or slightly higher, in the opera house seats, requiring additional subtle adjustments that the performers had to practice. The Lyric set aside two rehearsal spaces onsite, enough for 50 or 60 dancers to move around at one time, and special temporary flooring made of wood planks with foam cushioning, crucial to protect dancers’ muscle and bone, was also set in place onstage for the duration.

The “Nutcracker” is by far the largest production of the Joffrey season, involving more than 80 dancers in rotation, including young children, always some of them dancing with the company for the first time ever. It’s also always the first time for some of the people in the backstage areas as well, the ones who must help to manage intricate tricks like the morphing of the little Christmas tree, which grows to an enormous height in Clara’s magical and intricate dream.

The evening production that I saw, on the first day of the run Dec. 4, featured the lovely Amanda Assucena as Marie, the passionate child and graceful dreamer whose imaginary adventure becomes a fight to help save her nutcracker. Her beloved new toy is magically transformed into her dream-state prince — the exceptional Jose Pablo Castro Cuevas, who immediately faces an army of suddenly very life-size and highly entertaining soldier rats.

(C) Todd Rosenberg
The Arabian dance of Jeraldine Mendoza and Dylan Gutierrez is a highlight of the second act.

With Marie’s help, the soldiers save the day, setting the stage for a magical second act in which Marie and her prince sit in a World’s Fair-style gondola straight out of the Chicago picture books, to witnesses a parade of set pieces that, in this production, represent the various exotic pavilions in the exposition. .

In that second act, the surpassingly exotic elegance of Jeraldine Mendoza and Dylan Gutierrez as the Arabian Dancers stole the show for many, but the quartet of Spanish Dancers, Xavier Nunez in his solo Chinese Dance, and a riotous Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show transformation of what was once Tchaikovsky’s Russian Dance were just as delightful. Christopher Wheeldon’s deeply moving and highly original production has landed on an ideal stage. It should serve this “Nutcracker” well for years to come.

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