© Alastair Muir, courtesy the Royal Opera House. (His Nutcracker production for Birmingham Royal Ballet, which comes to the Royal Albert Hall in London 23-31 December, has resolved most of the Royal Ballet’s production issues.)Īnna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambe in The Nutcracker. Because he has succeeded in making the original 1892 libretto more coherent, the inconsistencies stand out. Here’s the problem that Wright has set himself and veteran viewers, more accustomed to the ballet’s magic than newcomers. How come the Dancing Mistress leads the quadrille with Dr Stahlbaum (Christopher Saunders) and is one of the last to leave the party? Her role and costume are so conspicuous that you start to wonder why she is eclipsing the hostess, Mrs Stahlbaum (Elizabeth McGorian, never easily eclipsed). They act plausibly and dance delightfully, led by their Dancing Mistress (Kristen McNally). The children, pupils from White Lodge, the Royal Ballet junior school, are delicious. An elaborately iced cake is wheeled in, not to be broken up and eaten, since it is a harbinger of the set for the Kingdom of the Sweets in Act II. Little girls behave nicely, little boys are naughty. Old conventions are observed in Act I, with a visit from costumed revellers to frighten naughty children and a formal dance for all the guests, old and young.
It’s a joyous traditional production, set by Wright and the late designer Julia Trevelyan Oman in mid-19th-century Germany. The ROH has truly opened up, with a live relay to cinemas on the 3rd December and an encore screening on the 10th. Sir Peter, now 92, took a curtain call with the principal dancers, who swiftly made their way down to greet the Linbury viewers. (Click image for larger version)ĭownstairs, in the newly refurbished Linbury Studio Theatre, a mainly young audience (children were free) watched on screen the opening performance of The Nutcracker in the main house – the 478th time Sir Peter Wright’s production as been given in the Royal Opera House. © Tristram Kenton, © 2015 Royal Opera House.
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