As you may have realised by now, I love the theatre and I love music, so much so that I’ve spent my career teaching it. But so far, ballet has eluded me. That changed last night at Leeds Grand Theatre.
I know a lot of the music extremely well, but my one foray into watching a ballet (Sleeping Beauty) left me uninspired. However, the same was with opera until I finally found what kind of shows I particularly liked, such as Mozart’s operetta The Magic Flute. And luckily for me, I’ve just found my diamond of the ballet world….The Nutcracker.
Written by Tchaikovsky in 1892, The Nutcracker is a fairy ballet, a 19th-century style of ballet that features mystical creatures and lasts for only two acts. Although originally it wasn’t a success as a ballet, the 20 minute musical suite that Tchaikovsky took from it became instantly popular. As the scale of Christmas celebrations has grown over the last 60 years, the ballet itself has also grown in popularity, its Christmas backdrop and sense of wonder guaranteeing a sell-out audience.
The story of The Nutcracker is simple, to say the least. The wealthy Stahlbaum family holds a party on Christmas Eve in order to decorate the Christmas tree. As the clock strikes 8, the mysterious figure of Uncle Drosselmeyer, a local magician and the godfather of young Clara, enters. He brings with him lifelike toys to perform for the children, to their utter amazement, as well as a nutcracker doll for Clara. Later that evening, after everyone is asleep, Clara sneaks downstairs to check on her doll, and finds her Uncle waiting (Yes, he has the creepy appearance of the Child Catcher throughout the whole thing!).
As the clock strikes midnight though, the Mouse King enters with his horde of mice. Clara’s Nutcracker doll suddenly grows to become life-size and an army of toy soldiers appears to help him battle and defeat the Mouse King. Upon the victory, Drosselmeyer transforms the Nutcracker into a handsome prince who takes Clara on a sleigh ride through a moonlight pine forest in which snowflake fairies dance around them, beckoning them on to the Prince’s magical kingdom.
In Act Two Clara is taken to the Land of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy until the Prince’s return. In honour of the Prince and Clara, a celebration of sweets from around the world is performed, each with their own solo dance: chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia, tea from China and candy canes from Russia. To finish the celebration, The Sugar Plum Fairy dances a solo before they all wave Clara goodbye. The scene immediately switches back to the Stahlbaum household, where we see a sleeping Clara being carried back to bed by her father, leaving the audience to assume it has just been a dream.
As you can tell from the story, Act One is filled with energy and pace. The opening scene shows the family getting ready for the party, followed by the party itself. The excitement and sense of anticipation is shared with the audience as we all soak up the magic of Christmas. Not for the first time, the young children on stage absolutely stole the show, their excellent timing, precise skill and professionalism extraordinary for people so young (my one regret being that they had obviously been taken to bed before the bows so we weren’t able to give them the standing ovation they deserved).
The entrance of Drosselmeyer, performed by Gavin McCraig, brought a level of magic to the evening, as his life size presents of toy dolls came to life and performed for the children. The innocence that dancer Rachael Gillespie brought to the role of Clara through both her angelic dancing and awe-filled facial expressions made her journey all the more magical. The excitement (and comedy!) built even further with the entrance of the Mouse King and his horde of mice, played beautifully again by the child dancers. The Nutcraker’s entrance was spellbinding and his dance with the toy soldiers exquisite, as they executed their dance routines in perfect military precision. The Mouse King very nearly stole the show from them, with his hilarious dancing from on height as he antagonised the soldiers, his use of the Floss dance appealing to the younger audience especially.
The end of this Act brought a true Christmas vibe as, during Clara and the Prince’s sleigh ride through the pine forest, fake snow started to fall and completely covered the stage, as the snowflake fairies performed to them. There were some moments of dubious timing here from the female ensemble, but this in no way removed any of the winter wonder that was created. The curtains closed on a very memorable Act One.
Act Two was still excellent, but the lack of a story and a lack of Christmas references meant it didn’t quite have the same magic. The whole Act was made up of small group performances as each country was celebrated in the Land of Sweets. The Arabian dancers, performed by Domique Larose, Harry Skoupas and Andrew Tomlinson, were a particular highlight for me, the hypnotic music, sensual dancing and beautiful costumes providing a visual feast. The Spanish dancer performed by Kevin Poeung was also a standout performance in this Act, his choreography crisp and tight, giving a clear sense of the Spanish tradition. This Act definitely didn’t have the same energy, but we still heard wonderful numbers such as the ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’ and ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ and the sheer skill of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Saeka Shirai) and her Cavalier (Jonathan Hanks) cannot be doubted.
Even more so than in an Opera, the orchestra must be given full credit for the two hours of beautiful music played. It can be easy to forget that this is live orchestra, performing every single night and an equal amount of hard work and dedication has gone into making them virtuosic performers in the same way as the ballet dancers. The whole ensemble was extremely tight with perfect balance. The harpists Elinor Nickolson and Tamara Young and the trumpeters Tracey Redfern and Gary Ritson deserve a special mention for their exquisite solos. The music is so central to the work of the ballet that there is a whole group of directors and conductors who lead this orchestra, though special praise must be given to Jonathan Lo, the Music Director, and it was especially pleasing, and right, to see him be invited on stage to take a bow with the dancers at the end of the show.
The set, costume and choreography are sensational throughout this whole performance. The artistic director who was responsible for this delight was David Nixon CBE. The family outfits in Act 1 beautifully captured the 19th century setting, whilst the lavish and creative costumes of the toys added to the magical atmosphere on stage.
At only two hours long, including the interval, this is the perfect introduction to ballet for anyone reluctant to try it or perhaps take their children to see ballet for the first time. The toy characters and constant smiling faces make this a light-hearted and soul-lifting performance, perfect for the whole family. The Christmas element is an added treat and watching this show just five days before the special day was an absolute pleasure. I had my reservations about going to the ballet, as my husband most definitely did too, but both of us left feeling significantly more festive for it, with a new appreciation for a different art form. Take the gamble this holiday and enjoy a true festive feast.
PS. Don’t forget that the evening shows start at 7pm! Luckily, we realised at 6.30pm and made it with just two minutes to spare…a little bit out of breath…
Photographs by Bill Cooper. Provided by Northern Ballet.
