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The Nutcracker Birmingham Hippodrome ***** Christmas would just not be the same without Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Nutcracker bringing its seasonal magic and dazzling sparkle to the city with its fabulous mix of familiarity and freshness year after year. And not only that, it is our Nutcracker; it is one of, if not the best version of Tchaikovsky’s wonderful classic, and it was made here in Brum, given to the city by Sir Peter Wright who created it as a thank you for giving his Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet a home in Thorp Street in 1990. The Nutcracker has become a guilty pleasure, a treat of reviewing, seen so many times now it has become an old friend, and like any old friend you can quickly tell if is is a little out of sorts, not quite its old self and this Nutcracker is in rude health, on top form and full of life – it’s fizzin’ like a bottle of pop as an old Post & Mail messenger used to say. Spanish soloist Sofia Liñares is an absolute delight as the teenage ballet student Clara , she exudes a touching childlike wonder and innocence even when she dances – and how she dances. She is a star in the making. A ready made star is established principal Céline Gittens who takes The Sugar Plum Fairy into her own territory of dance magic, she really does own any role she dances and gives us a fairy with charm, lightness of touch and precise, delicate steps allied to wonderful technical ability. Then we have Cuban soloist Yasiel Hodelín Bello transforming from the Nutcracker doll to the handsome Prince of Clara’s dreams.
He dances the role with the required athleticism of the male lead and has that ability that sets the best from the rest in that he makes the extraordinary look ordinary, the difficult look easy. Another one to watch. A bit closer to home we had Bradford born principal Max Maslan as the MC of the whole affair, the mysterious magician Drosselmeyer who sweeps around the stage in a cloak the size of Dudley directing proceedings. With the four principal characters as the stand out anchors the rest fit neatly between them as we open with a Christmas Eve party at the home of Clara’s father Dr Stahlbaum danced by Jonathan Payn and her mother danced by Daria Stanciulescu. Drosselmeyer introduces a few magic tricks and his own collection of characters with Harlequin danced by Shuailun Wu, Columbine in the shape of Rachele Pizzillo and a well sprung Jack-in-the-Box from Ryan Felix. We also come across Clara’s misbehaving younger brother Fritz danced by Lars Hetherington-Howell, who could add a touch of extra malevolent mischief to graduate to the vile little beast level. After the guests leave and midnight rings out we reach the witching hour with Clara having her Honey I shrunk the Kids moment and one of the great scene changes of theatre in John Macfarlane’s magnificent set design as the tree grows to fill half the stage with no CGI, no LEDs or video magic, just simple, old fashioned, brilliant stagecraft and well drilled teamwork from the stagecrew. Clara is now confronted by a life size, at least to her, King Rat, with Callum Findlay-White hidden somewhere inside, followed by his rat pack invading from the fireplace to engage in a battle royal with The Nutcracker and his toy soldiers, with Carla saving the day by battering the King unconscious with a blunt instrument . . . to wit a shoe The Nutcracker, now a Prince,takes centre stage as we get another magical set transformation as he takes her to the Land of Snow where she meets The Snow Fairy, Yu Kurihara, and her attendants and the four winds ending the act in a veritable blizzard. of stage filling snowflakes. The second Act opens with Clara flying across the stage on a huge white bird – which always gets applause. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely opening but the fabulous before your very eyes, technically demanding scene transformations pass by without so much as a murmur. This is Drosselmeyer’s moment with yet another stage transformation as he introduces a world, literally of dance with first a Spanish Dance from the sombrerod Rachele Pizzillo, Gabriel Anderson and Miles Gilliver, followed by the Arabian Dance from Eilis Small, Jack Easton, August Generalli and Mason King. This dance has had a chequered history of late, originally a sensuous dance of three men and a girl with a hint of eroticism and tales of the Arabian Nights about it, but as a sign of the times, it was toned down to a slow, mildly romantic pas de deux in 2022, which although well danced, had lost much of its impact. Last year it was changed to two men and a woman, and now we are back to the male trio and the return of the mildly seductive element to go with the sensuous music. Another change has been the Chinese Dance from Ryan Felix and Gus Payne, which was once somewhat disparaging about the Chinese, not the best idea, particulalry where wBRB are located, in Chinatown. It now keeps the athletic elements but now the fun lies with the dancers not at them. Louis Andreasen, Callum Findlay-White and Tom Hazelby turn Cossack in an energetic Russian Dance, while Rosanna Ely, Reina Fuchigami, Alisa Garkavenko and Tessa Hogge provide the Dance of the Mirlitons. Which brings us to the Dance of the Flowers with a lovely performance from Miki Mizutani as The Rose Fairy and finally The Grand Pas De Deux from the Prince and the wonderful Céline Gittens as we see ballet student Clara magically transformed into the classic ballerina found dancing on music boxes and seen in every little girl’s dream – which means a rare outing for the celeste in The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy played beautifully by head of piano, Jeanette Wong. The music is another star of the ballet, played by Birmingham’s other world class symphony orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under guest conductor Thomas Jung, with Tchaikovsky’s symphonic score full of so many familiar tunes, even to those who have never seen nor know the ballet. The pas de deux is the cue for another stage filling transformation as a sleepy Clara is carried from her dreams to awake where she started, back home on Christmas morning. With The Nutcracker’s arrival the festive season can officially start and The Prince and Clara, Drosselmeyer’ and The Sugar Plum Fairy will be creating their magic to 14-12-24. Roger Clarke 22-11-24 BRB has an appeal about to start to help raise £70,000, with donations price matched up to that figure to help repair and refurbish sets and costumes and help the costs of touring Sir David Bintley's Conderella next year. Details Here. |
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