Rosanna Ely as The Rose Fairy, photo credit Johan Persson
Sir Peter Wright loves The Nutcracker so much that he made it twice. Having created what many people would regard as a seminal version (at least to rival that of George Balanchine in the USA) for The Royal Ballet, in 1984, with its giant Christmas tree and Julia Trevelyan Oman’s sumptuous designs, he returned to Tchaikovsky’s score for a second production as a present for his fledgling Birmingham Royal Ballet, in December 1990, thus ending the first year of the company’s newfound residency in Birmingham.
He once again turned to art to help meet the challenge of living up to his earlier production by commissioning John Macfarlane to create wonderful designs for set and costumes. The transition from Christmas party to the Land of Snow has taken many forms but in Macfarlane’s world Clara makes the fantastic voyage in the air, seated upon a giant goose that flies across the stage. I have never yet seen this spectacle unaccompanied by a chorus of “oohs” and “ahhs” from a suitably enchanted audience.
Macfarlane’s imagery is far removed from that of Oman but nonetheless just as glorious. He has the advantage of being an accomplished painter and his gorgeous hand-painted curtain dominates the proscenium prior to the show and during the interval, with its charming, wide-eyed Nutcracker doll at the centre of a painting that is dominated by blues and reds. Red is the prevailing colour in Macfarlane’s palette, from the soldiers’ red jackets to the gorgeous red evening dress worn by Clara’s Mother (Toni Forsyth-Hecken). From the moment Clara’s father (an uncredited Miles Gilliver) complements that dress by placing a glittering diamond necklace around his wife’s slender neck, affluence reigns supreme in their household! No wonder the kids are so spoilt!
Wright’s main gameplan to distinguish this production from that of The Royal Ballet was to alter the perception from which the tale is told. In his earlier iteration it was the magician Drosselmeyer that was at the centre of proceedings as a master of ceremonies but, here, it is the young ballet student, Clara (just 15 in Wright’s narrative) that carries the lionesses’ share of the narrative (as evidenced by her solo journey to the Land of the Snow on the back of that goose)!
Tessa Hogge – a young artist from the USA – stepped up to this challenge with great charm and vivacity, virtually ever-present throughout most of the ballet and dancing a gorgeous act one pas de deux with the Prince (Haoliang Feng). Wright has created a role that is a stepping stone within the company, and I can see that playing Clara will be an important experience in furthering Hogge’s career (as it has been for many before her).
Macfarlane’s designs for the act one Christmas party challenge the choreography and performance by placing the large Christmas tree and staircase prominently at stage right thus curtailing the amount of space on the Hippodrome stage (already lacking in width) for a large cast and there were a couple of bumps and near misses amongst the dancers in the waltz.
Max Maslen presented a much younger version of the magician, Drosselmeyer, than the norm but his prestidigitation was suitably skilful. Tom Hazelby was a brief explosive spark as the magician’s assistant with Javier Rojas (Harlequin), Lynsey Sutherland (Columbine) and Enrique Bejarano Vidal (Jack-in-the-box) all producing excellent party tricks. I also enjoyed the reverential way in which Rory Mackay and Yvette Knight portrayed Clara’s grandparents and Lars Hetherington-Howell was excellent as the naughty Fritz. The way in which the broken Nutcracker doll – pulled apart by Fritz – magically repairs itself is an illusion worthy of Penn and Teller!
Max Maslen as Drosselmeyer, photo credit Johan Persson
Although the Spanish dance seemed to finish strangely behind the music, there was a clutch of excellent national dances, amongst which there is still a proper Arabian dance (please keep it) with the sultry, sinuous, sexy Eilis Small (another unannounced cast change), partnered by Yasiel Hodelin Bello, Oscar Kempsey-Fagg and Mason King. Also, kudos to Rosanna Ely for a fragrant cameo as The Rose Fairy. Tchaikovsky’s music was as heavenly as it should be, performed by The Royal Ballet Sinfonia under guest conductor, Thomas Jung. Long may live music continue in the ballet!
This production of The Nutcracker is not alone in having the headline dancer on stage for less than ten minutes, portraying The Sugar Plum Fairy in the grand pas de deux and finale. This honour fell to Reina Fuchigami, who has been in the company for twelve years, promoted to soloist earlier this year, another superb dancer from Japan (BRB has four Japanese ballerinas at principal or soloist level). The grand pas de deux includes one of the most challenging variations in the ballerina repertoire, and she danced beautifully throughout, being strongly partnered by Haoliang Feng (surprisingly not yet elevated to the rank of soloist). It was a suitably breathtaking duet with which to bring this excellent performance of a much-loved production to a glorious conclusion.
Graham Watts is a freelance writer and dance critic. He writes for The Spectator, Tanz, Shinshokan Dance Magazine (Japan), Ballet Magazine (Romania), BachTrack and the Hong Kong International Arts Festival and has previously written for the Sunday Express, Dancing Times, Dance Europe, DanceTabs, London Dance, the Edinburgh International Festival and Pointe magazine (USA). He has also written the biography of Daria Klimentová (The Agony and the Ecstasy) and contributed chapters about the work of Akram Khan to the Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet and on Shobana Jeyasingh for the third edition of Routledge’s Fifty Contemporary Choreographers.
He is Chairman of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle and of the UK National Dance Awards and regularly lectures on dance writing and criticism at The Royal Academy of Dance, The Place and (until the war) for Balletristic in Kyiv. He was a nominee for the Dance Writing Award in the 2018 One Dance UK Awards and was appointed OBE in 2008.
