Northern's Nutcracker

Standard YouTube Licence

Northern Ballet The Nutcracker 5 Jan 2023 19:00 The Grand Theatre, Leeds

I saw The Nutcracker one and a half times this year.  The first time was on 28 Dec when Leeds was gridlocked with a match at Elland Road and an event at the First Direct Arena.  The multistorey where I usually park was full and I had to leave my car at Woodhouse Lane which is a stiff walk to The Grand.  The ushers let my companion and me into the auditorium halfway through the first act.  As I could not fairly review a show that I had not seen from the start I returned on 5 Jan to see the same cast.

David Nixon's production of The Nutcracker is one of his best ballets.  It is one of my favourite works in Northern Ballet's repertoire.  Unlike his Swan Lake, he has left the story intact other than changing the name of the Stahkbaum family to Edwards. He has resisted the temptation to embellish it as Grigorovich, Bourne or even Sir Peter Wright did.  He simply tells the tale of a young girl's dream after receiving an unusual gift from her eccentric uncle.  

As Nixon's ballet focuses on the dream, Clara is the leading female role.  There is a Sugar Plum but her pas de deux is simply the last of the divertissements.   On my visits, Clara was danced by Rachael Gillespie.  According to the programme notes, this was Gillespie's third season as Clara and she is perfect in that role.  Even though she has been with the company since 2007 she does not look a day over 14 when dancing this character.  She seems to live that role.  The joy on her face when she receives her gift is truly childlike.  So too is her dismay when her meddlesome little brother trashes the gift.  Her performance was not just polished.  It was inspired.

Sugar Plum was danced by Saeka Shirai.  She joined the company recently and this was my first opportunity to watch her. She impressed me with her solo and I shall certainly look out for her in future. She was partnered by Jonathan Hanks whom I know rather better.  He also danced "James" who is described in the cast list as "Louise [that is to say, Clara's sister's] friend."

Drosselmeyer was danced by a youthful Joseph Taylor and Sean Bates as Clara's dad seemed barely older than his daughter.  Even younger was Clara's grandfather who was danced by Wesley Branch. Prior to the pandemic, some of those roles could have been filled by the likes of Javier Torres or Hironao Takahashi but they have all gone.  

Fussing and fumbling and slightly dotty, Dominique Larose was a very convincing grandma in the first act.  She came back in the second as the sexy, sultry and very supple beauty in the Arabian dance.  Another artist who carried off successfully two very different roles was George Liang who doubled as the Mouse King and one of the Chinese dancers.

Save for the Christmas party and the battle between the toy soldiers and mice the ballet consists largely of divertissements. There are the automatons' dance and snowflakes in the first act and the Spanish, Arabian, Chinese, Cossacks, French, Waltz of the Flowers and the pas de deux in the second.  I enjoyed them all, especially snowflakes and Sugar Plum's solo which Martin Dutton taught me and Waltz of the Flowers which Jane Tucker taught me at workshops held by KNT and Powerhouse Ballet. I learned more about The Nutcracker from those workshops than I had previously gained from a lifetime of theatre-going and I cannot recommend them too highly. The only comment that I would make about the others is that I admired Antoni Cañellas Artigues's virtuosity but the castanets suggest a duet or possibly a larger group.

As always the mice were very cute and the children very naughty.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the girls charging across the stage with the boys in this production rather than sweetly tending to their dolls. In the past, the children have been rehearsed by Cara O'Shea.  I could not find her in the programme this year but the children were as well-trained as ever.  I have attended several of Cara's classes and she is a very gifted teacher.  I would not be surprised to learn that she had trained the kids.

One improvement to the show that Federico Bonelli may wish to consider is to replace the backdrop to the the opening scene.  It is supposed to be a book-lined wall but it ripples in the air which is risible, However, this is only a minor grumble.   Overall it was still a good show.