THE NUTCRACKER
CHRISTMAS means nuts and crackers. And sometimes both together. The most traditional festive ballet is Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and the Royal Ballet’s version is the most enchanting production known to man.
The story may be barking mad but that hardly matters. It is the wealth of visual treasures and wonderful music that make people return time and again.
Clara is given a Nutcracker doll for Christmas by the magician Drosselmeyer, who hopes she can undo a spell cast on his nephew Hans-Peter.
In the middle of the night she creeps downstairs and gets caught up in a battle between toy soldiers and an army of mice before she and Hans-Peter are whisked away to the Kingdom of Sweets.
However many times you see it, this production always works.
But this year’s outing works better than ever.
Choreographer Sir Peter Wright, who celebrated his 90th birthday on stage at the end with a huge cake, took the original Russian ballet and gave it shape and style in his first version in 1984. He has been making subtle improvements ever since.
The family Christmas scene that makes up the first act is far less cluttered and has a real intimacy, full of details such as Clara leaping into the lap of her wheelchair-bound grandfather. But it is the awesome transformation scene that makes your eyes pop out.
As Drosselmeyer (Gary Avis on fine form) shrinks Clara to mouse-size and stops time, the Christmas tree grows to the roof until it fills the stage and the toy castle shrinks like a scene from Alice In Wonderland. As toy soldiers march out of the wooden castle, you enter a dream state.
Wooden angels roll about the stage as if on casters, dolls emerge from boxes to entertain party guests and a battalion of snowflakes dances across the stage like a beautiful blizzard.
With a sexy Arabian Dance and a fragrant, tear-jerking pas de deux between the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince, there is something for everyone.
There will be nationwide selected live cinema screenings of The Nutcracker on Thursday, December 8, and an encore screening on Sunday, December 11. See roh.org.uk/cinemas to find out more.