United Kingdom Sir Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker: Dancers of The Royal Ballet, The Schola Cantorum of The London Oratory College, London Oratory Junior Choir (director: Charles Cole), Orchestra of the Royal Opera Home / Andrew Litton (conductor). Broadcast stay (directed by Peter Jones) for the Royal Opera Home, Covent Backyard, 12.12.2023 and seen at Everyman Chelmsford, Essex, 18.12.2023. (JPr)
Whether it is Christmas, it should be Hansel and Gretel (evaluation right here), pantomime, or The Nutcracker. Sir Peter Wright’s manufacturing approaches its fortieth birthday, and it continues to sell-out all performances on the Royal Opera Home and in cinemas too, to evaluate by the encore screening I noticed in Chelmsford. Maybe why is a subject for dialogue at one other time when the final ballet seen there, an equally fulfilling Don Quixote (evaluation right here), attracted an viewers barely reaching double figures.
As I’ve written earlier than English Nationwide Ballet’s Nutcracker (evaluation right here) offers us the fantasy and romance of Clara’s dream since – along with her being on the cusp of puberty – her hormones are kicking in: even then Wayne Eagling’s model nonetheless lacks some dramatic coherence. Sir Peter Wright’s situation right here – whereas stressing the German roots of the E.T.A. Hoffmann story it’s based mostly on – has even much less plot. As soon as extra I shall seek advice from Wright’s personal synopsis: ‘The depraved Queen of the Mice solid a spell over Drosselmeyer’s nephew, Hans-Peter, which remodeled him into an unpleasant Nutcracker Doll. The one solution to break the spell was for the Nutcracker to defeat the Mouse King, thereby committing an act of nice bravery, and for a younger lady to like and look after him regardless of his terrible look.’ And that’s mainly it, although Hoffmann’s authentic The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is way darker and open to reinterpretation; probably because the stuff of nightmares or in a Freudian approach, for instance, Rudolf Nureyev introduced a psychoanalytic dimension to his Nutcracker (evaluation right here).
Little is defined on stage, other than the perfunctory prologue and a few prolonged mime for the Nutcracker in Act II which is not going to imply a lot to these unfamiliar with the story or the ‘language’ of ballet. As I’ve remarked earlier than, this Nutcracker gives a – typically actually – glittery and snowy showcase for the skills of The Royal Ballet who proved, as soon as extra, they’ve been on prime kind this season.
Peter Wright units his Nutcracker in outdated Nuremberg and we’re on the Stahlbaum’s lavish Christmas celebration in these bygone days when kids have been nonetheless allowed to be kids. There’s a lot of twee home cosiness with a contact of anarchy because the St Nicholas Eve parade invades the home. Drosselmeyer is on the centre of all the things which occurs on the Christmas celebration; from entertaining the friends together with his magic, to making an attempt to orchestrate the rescue of his nephew, Hans-Peter, from his destiny because the Nutcracker. (Sadly, with Andrew Litton, music director of New York Metropolis Ballet, dashing the wonderful Covent Backyard orchestra by means of an in any other case wonderful account of Tchaikovsky’s luxurious rating, the camerawork was typically gradual to meet up with any of the ‘magic’ of the primary act.)
The Christmas tree grows to a dizzying peak, and Drosselmeyer attracts Clara – by shrinking her Alice-like – into surreal, dreamlike adventures. There she battles sinister toys and evil mice, earlier than vanquishing the Mouse King by beating him over the top with considered one of her slippers. By proving her bravery and love for the Nutcracker, Clara can develop up. I’m extra used to Gary Avis because the arch-manipulator Drosselmeyer who’s actually extra avuncular than Thomas Whitehead who brings one thing extra devilish to his character. He positively wants a pressure for good to look at over Clara and that’s the Christmas Angel he has made. Snowflakes fall and Clara and the Nutcracker are transported to the Sugar Backyard within the Kingdom of Sweets (which we first encountered because the cake on the celebration) for all of the set-piece choreographic treats we count on.
Sophie Allnat was a really vigorous Clara along with her motion completely pure as she dashed by means of the story with a completely plausible sense of surprise, as if she was experiencing these stirrings of affection, the falling snow, in addition to, Tchaikovsky’s gloriously symphonic rating, for the primary time. Leo Dixon was reasonably extra stoic as a dancer than Allnat however proved a suitably gallant Hans-Peter/Nutcracker. He displayed the army bearing required when battling the mice, a superb soar, and delicate partnering.
The Nutcracker has loads of soloist roles and excessive requirements and vitality ranges have been maintained all through the night; notably within the second act diverts and particularly Olivia Cowley and Lukas B. Brændsrød within the Gary Avis revised Arabian Dance. The corps de ballet have been in notably glowing kind for the Waltz of the Snowflakes restored now to the complete complement of twenty-four after the sixteen of the Covid-affected years. They arched and swayed with their fingers fluttering to trace on the flakes falling, and at a sure level within the music, snow does descend onto the stage with some ethereal offstage singing from the London Oratory Junior Choir and The Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory College.
All that remained was for the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince to launch into their pas de deux. There was no doubting the technical perfection of the superbly matched Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé; the fragile O’Sullivan danced with grace and evident musicality, while Sambé was immaculate within the troublesome leaps and turns of his solo and in some very cautious partnering of O’Sullivan. There are critiques on this web site that may attest that I noticed Sambé’s expertise lengthy earlier than he grew to become an organization principal. Nonetheless – and I hope he wouldn’t thoughts me scripting this – I’ve been just a little disenchanted of late and surprise if it’s a matter of an excessive amount of teaching and never sufficient spontaneity now in his dancing.
So, this Nutcracker shall be forty once I suspect it is going to be on once more subsequent Christmas and naturally as such a field workplace winner I believe The Royal Ballet’s perspective is ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t repair it’ however time should come ultimately for a brand new manufacturing …certainly?
Jim Pritchard
Creatives:
Music – Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Choreography – Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov
State of affairs – Marius Petipa after E.T.A. Hoffmann
Manufacturing and State of affairs – Peter Wright
Designer – Julia Trevelyan Oman
Lighting designer – Mark Henderson
Manufacturing Marketing consultant – Roland John Wiley
Arabian Dance tailored by Gary Avis
Solid:
The Sugar Plum Fairy – Anna Rose O’Sullivan
The Prince – Marcelino Sambé
Herr Drosselmeyer – Thomas Whitehead
Clara – Sophie Allnatt
Hans-Peter / The Nutcracker – Leo Dixon
Rose Fairy – Isabella Gasparini
Rose Fairy Escorts – David Donnelly, Téo Dubreuil, Harrison Lee, Joseph Sissens
Main Flowers – Leticia Dias, Isabel Lubach, Julia Roscoe, Mariko Sasaki
