Review BRB, The Nutcracker Online ★★★★★

BRB's THE NUTCRACKER IS AVAILABLE ON DEMAND UNTIL MIDNIGHT ON CHRISTMAS EVE BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK
TICKETS: £15 PER HOUSEHOLD – last date for purchase of tickets 21 December

The thing with this splendid Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker, is that so long as you keep the key elements – the Christmas Eve party at a well-to-do family, the magician Herr Drosselmeyer, the girl Clara who falls in love with her Christmas gift of a nutcracker and that night dreams of a fantastical journey through the Kingdom of Sweets – you can introduce any number of tweaks to the narrative.

In its journey through the decades with Birmingham Royal Ballet Sir Peter Wright's glorious production of The Nutcracker, set to Tchaikovsky's ravishing score, has undergone a number of twists, most recently by the company's artistic director Carlos Acosta to meet Covid-imposed constraints.

For one thing, once original plans to perform the ballet at BRB's home, the Birmingham Hippodrome, with a shorter run at London's Royal Albert Hall were cancelled, the production had to be downsized to fit the smaller stage of the Birmingham Rep. And once performances before a live audience there had to be cancelled, too, the show had to be adapted for the screen.

Does it work? Oh yes, it does, with some reservations. The company is in fine fettle, dancing with a combination of gusto and finesse, the ensemble meticulously drilled, the soloists fully inhabiting their characters.

As the girl Clara, Karla Doorbar is all tender innocence, lovingly tending to her nutcracker doll, waking up to the possibility of love when the doll magically changes into a charming young man (Gus Payne), suitably wide-eye and playful as the wonders of Act II unfold before her.

Of course, the climax of the ballet is the Grand Pas of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince, danced here by veteran company principals Momoko Hirata and César Morales. Hirata is radiant, Morales a besotted partner.

As the Snow Fairy, Alys Shee conveys the lightness and excitement of the first snow flurries, and marshals her snowflakes and winds with gracious authority.

BRB's production, which came to Carlos Acosta via the previous BRB director David Bintley, has a more linear narrative than that of the Royal Ballet's. So, the Act II divertissements – Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabian dances and the Mirlitons – represent Clara's toys come to life; and once she wakes up, the Nutcracker remains a doll, rather than the young man released from a magic curse we see at Covent Garden.

The fierce mice of Act I return briefly (and rather unnecessarily, we feel) at the beginning of Act II, perhaps to highlight the nightmares that tinge Clara's dreams.

Most questionable is the decision to curtail the Sugar Plum Fairy Grand Pas, abolishing two individual variations and the final pas de deux and instead merging Fairy and Prince into an ensemble dance for the finale. It feels a little like snatching a sweet away from a child...

The Royal Ballet Sinfonia, playing live under the baton of Paul Murphy, gave a luscious reading of Tchaikovsky's score.

John Macfarlane's sumptuous designs come across clearly on the screen as did Johnny Westall-Eyre's intelligent lighting design . And plaudits to Ross McGibbon, whose film direction, subtly directing the viewer's eye without ever intruding, is exemplary.

For once the short film shown during the interval, featuring the retiring BRB Assistant Director Marion Tait, a stalwart of the company to whom the production is dedicated, hits just the right tone, giving a context for the work within BRB's history and providing charming and informative behind the scenes footage.


AGE GUIDANCE: 5+