Hansel and Gretel dazzles in all facets
Hansel and Gretel, by the Royal New Zealand Ballet; choreography Loughlan Prior Wellington Opera House, until tomorrow
Reviewed by Lyne Pringle
With great excitement and anticipation, the Royal New Zealand Ballet has kicked off a national season of Hansel and Gretel.
Loughlan Prior was commissioned to create a new version of the fairytale. It is his first full-length ballet and he has risen to the challenge with invention and style.
Adding to the anticipation, Claire Cowan becomes the first woman to compose a score for the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
Her music is the star of the night, brilliantly conducted by luminary Hamish McKeich and played with impeccable style by Orchestra Wellington.
It is a dazzling production filled with inventive choreography and design which create many magical moments.
The dancing is meticulous, heartfelt and beautifully cast.
Design by Kate Hawley is clever and unique, as is the lighting by Jon Buswell.
There is an excellent use of a colour palette to emulate, very successfully, a 1920s silent black and white movie that explodes into colour in the second act.
We are swept along and enthralled by the story. Shaun James Kelly as Hansel and Kirby Selchow as Gretel draw us in emotionally to the antics and tribulations of their characters.
Selchow is feisty and shimmers while Kelly is naive and trepidatious – they embody the challenges this world throws at them with strong dancing.
Selchow’s solo in the witch’s kitchen fizzes with explosive power. Nadia Yanowsky is gorgeous in The Mother role with her incredible and expressive technique. Buoyed by heart-wrenching music, the pas de deux between her and Joseph Skelton, as The Father, are a highlight as they navigate the challenges of poverty.
Katharine Precourt is a garish and sinister Icecream Witch who seduces children with her sweet delights. In the second act she transforms into her ‘‘true self’’ to become a much darker and dangerous expression of malevolence, played by the marvellous Paul Mathews in cartoonish ‘‘grand dame’’ pantomime style.
Classicists are treated to an extended display of virtuosic dancing from Mayu Tanigaito and Allister Madin as the King and Queen of the Dew Fairies, who are summoned by the elegant Sand Man, Nathan Mennis, to watch over the languorous siblings in the forest of forks.
The surprises emerge thick and fast in the production, such as ingenious use of shadow and projection, and genius costumes for a chorus of broom wielding children. Throughout, the corps de ballet inhabit a multitude of characters with gusto.
Underpinning everything is the compelling score by Cowan, who has handed a great gift to Prior with her immensely danceable sounds: from gentle waltz, to snappy bossa nova, to swelling strings, to delicate tinkling percussion, to booming horns, to sinuous tangos. It is a triumph.
Hansel and Gretel is a wonderful production with imaginative choreography and a creative team at the top of their game.