Nutcracker, Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, December 2020
Posted on 14 December 2020What a treat to be back at the Royal Opera House to watch The Nutcracker, despite the social distancing for dancers and audience. My review in The Article.
Tag Archives: Nutcracker
Nutcracker, Royal Ballet, ROH, December 2018
Posted on 4 December 2018Tchaikovsky’s final ballet contains some of his most glorious music, but you wouldn’t know it from this dull and occasionally too forceful rendering of the score conducted by Barry Wordsworth. A pity too because the dancing was superb. As Clara, Anna Rose O’Sullivan was full of lightness and youthful wonder, with beautiful arm movements, and …
Nutcracker, Royal Ballet, ROH, Covent Garden, December 2017
Posted on 6 December 2017In this beautiful and perennially popular Peter Wright production, Drosselmeyer appears in his workshop at the start, gazing at a portrait of his nephew Hans-Peter, now maliciously trapped inside the Nutcracker Doll. To escape he must slay the Mouse King, which becomes a turning point when Clara clobbers the monster with her shoe, and in …
The Nutcracker, Royal Ballet, ROH, Covent Garden, December 2015
Posted on 9 December 2015This Christmas sees the Royal Ballet reviving Nutcracker — absent last year in favour of Don Q and Alice — in the Peter Wright production that has been with the Company for over thirty years. Yet it still looks entirely fresh, as did the dancers on opening night with Francesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell making …
Nutcracker, English National Ballet, ENB, London Coliseum, December 2014
Posted on 12 December 2014The great charm of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s original story is the interplay between the real and imaginary worlds of Clara’s life, both inhabited by her beloved godfather Drosselmeyer. This production emphasises Drosselmeyer’s ambiguous role in his pursuit of a dancing butterfly in the Act II mirliton section, but the clever main idea is to …
Nutcracker, with Osipova and Bonelli, Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, 27 December 2013
Posted on 28 December 2013Christmas feasting may have affected the orchestra, but certainly not the dancers in this 27th December performance. The party scene in Act I was full of joie de vivre, with Gary Avis as a magical Drosselmeyer. The élan of his conjuring tricks was matched by the liveliness of Valentino Zucchetti as his assistant, and the …
The Nutcracker with Klimentová and Muntagirov, English National Ballet, ENB, London Coliseum, December 2012
Posted on 15 December 2012The clever concept behind English National Ballet’s Nutcracker is not that the toy comes to life, but that in Clara’s mind he takes on the form of Drosselmeyer’s handsome nephew, seen in a blue uniform at the party in Act I. After the death of the Mouse King, which occurs in Act II of this production, the …
The Nutcracker with Nuñez and Soares, Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, December 2012.
Posted on 11 December 2012At the start of this Peter Wright production, we see Drosselmeyer in his workshop comparing his toy Nutcracker with a portrait on the wall of his lost nephew. Then at the very end, where some productions show Clara being put to bed by her mother, the Nutcracker prince finds his Uncle Drosselmeyer and they embrace. …
Nutcracker, Birmingham Royal Ballet, BRB at the O2, December 2011
Posted on 31 December 2011Ballet under the big top of the O2 — can it work, or is the audience too far away to see the dancers clearly? Sitting behind the raked tiers of seats, the view was clear if distant, but a closer view was shown on a big screen above the stage. This was very cleverly done, …
Nutcracker, English National Ballet, ENB at the London Coliseum, December 2010
Posted on 11 December 2010In the Hoffmann original the Nutcracker is a magical version of Drosselmeyer’s nephew, a feature represented in Eagling’s production by having the two characters interchange on stage several times.