Ballet Review
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The Nutcracker The St Petersburg Russian Ballet have brought a sumptuous and traditional production of The Nutcracker to the Apollo this week. They are a young company- only six years old- but already have an impressive repertoire of classics. Their accomplishment, charm and vivacity charmed the smallish first night audience into an enthusiastic show of appreciation. The story of The Nutcracker is based on a German children's fairytale. Tchaikovsky is reputed to have hated the plot of the ballet when first asked to write the score, and it is a sugary confection, about a prince from the land of sweets who has been turned into a nutcracker doll by a wicked mouse king. Tchaikovsky can rest easy, however- it is his set pieces - the Nutcracker Suite, the Flower Waltz, the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Pas de Trois, not the sweet-toothed narrative, that have long since settled in our consciousness as the essence of The Nutcracker. The music and the choreography are a fine balance between childish awe and adult dreams, and never lapse into nauseous sentimentality. The audience's attention is constantly stimulated by the eclectic parade of characters: Christmas revellers, living dolls, martial mice, a seven-headed mouse king, a magician, a snow queen. The two children, Clara and Fritz, are caught up in this nebulous, festive world where anything is possible. Clara frees the nutcracker prince from his spell and helps him to defeat the mice that have overrun his kingdom. Though tightly choreographed, the ballet demands very expressive dancing from its list of unusual characters. The cast mostly achieved this. The moving dolls were particularly excellent and the mice too were suitably frightening. A few roles didn't work so well however. Fritz convinces as a child but Clara seemed far too grown up. The two leads (Irina Kolesnikova and Andrei Zhembrovsky) needed to add a touch of warmth to fire their astounding technique. Furthermore, there wasn't a separate sugar plum fairy, to provide the climax of the ballet; instead Clara doubled up in the part. These quibbles did not spoil the feast however, and the last act provided an especially lavish spectacle. Anastasia Kolegova is outstanding in the melancholic Eastern dance, as are the Spanish, Chinese and Russian ensembles. When the pink tulled ballerinas turn into flowers for the final waltz, the stage turns into a giant gilt-edged fairground, a beautiful vision for the audience to take with them into the cold January night. Aruna Wittmann 24/1/2001 |