Everything was beautiful at the ballet tonight as the NZBC filled the stage and spilled dollops of glorious, irreverent fun into the hearts and minds of the receptive Christchurch audience.

The Nutcracker is one of the most widely performed ballets in the world and this version had the right pace, choreography, production elements and spirit to please even those with the most hardened of hearts. The dancers clearly relished their roles, dancing with panache and verve, demonstrating that they could “dance with their hearts rather than their feet.”

Outgoing artistic director, Gary Harris, presents this familiar Christmas story in a new setting and offers scintillating shifts, giving this production a contemporary ‘oomph’. He jet-propels the pace and provides us with a relentless succession of visual, dance and dramatic treats. The scene changes are in themselves masterful, and so swift that the audience barely has time to breathe let alone applaud. Slick theatrical magic!

The choreography is uniformly engaging starting right from the opening with the family romping around the tree enabling the characters to be firmly and comically established (especially Tonia Looker’s Clara and Paul Russell as her robust brother, Fritz).

The progression to the hospital offers chances for a beautiful quartet of dancers holding lights and a trio of young doctors (Christopher Hinton-Lewis, Paul Mathews and Jaered Glavin), that also re-appear in Act 2 with a fabulously funny dance on crutches (the Dance of the Mirlitons) – another real crowd-pleaser. The soldiers feature with visual and choreographic impact in their quick stepping dance that would warm any child’s heart. The theatrical magic here continues throughout. 

A romantic pas de deux between the nurse (Katie Hurst-Saxton) and the doctor (Brendan Bradshaw) in Act 1 is beautifully conceived with lyrical lines and their Act 2 dance in the Arabian section is again sensuously conceived and performed masterfully by this elegant and connected pair. A gorgeous high light indeed and supported by the corps who demonstrated consistent uniformity and solid technique.

Harris’s choreography again in the Grand pas de deux (Act 2) between the parents (danced by fluid Clytie Campbell and the distinguished Qi Huan) is compelling viewing with passing references to Fred and Ginger. It is danced with alacrity by this attentive, musical couple with Qi Huan giving a fine example of dedicated and tender partnering. The orchestral accompaniment (the trusty CSO) at this point seems to meld completely with the dance, leaving me wondering who was leading whom. Beautiful.

Production elements abound with the rich colours and designs of Fredrikson enhanced by fine lighting, snowflakes and wafts of smoke that do exactly what it is supposed to do. Combine all these factors with Jon Trimmer (clearly having a blast) and an entire company who seem to be dancing for the people and you have a winner!

“Everything was beautiful at the ballet,
Raise your arms and someone’s always there.
Yes, everything was beautiful at the ballet
At the ballet
At the ballet!” [Maggie; A Chorus Line]

Christchurch really needed this!
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 It was a quick dash on a Friday afternoon to see “The Nutcracker” in Invercargill on the 12^th November. I had been looking forward to it since I had seen the advertisement on television a while back and judging by the full house many others had too.

The Nutcracker” itself has been around for 100 years but the version presented by the Royal New Zealand Ballet is a twist on the original story. It was created by Artistic Director Gary Harris and Choreographer Adrian Burnett a few years ago and centres around a children’s hospital ward on Christmas Eve. 

On Christmas morning Clara, danced by Katherine Grange and her brother Fritz danced by Harry Skinner open their presents. Of course Clara receives her nutcracker and brother Fritz tries to take it from her, ending in a bump on the head and the ensuing visit to the hospital. Grange excellently conveyed the wide-eyed innocence and excitement of a young girl at Christmas with her expressions and delicate dancing. Skinner as Fritz was entertaining as her troublesome brother with his slingshot in tow.

The hospital is bustling as parents comfort their children watched over by doctors and nurses and Jaered Glavin as the hilarious Matron, bringing giggles from the audience around me. Once the adults leave, the fun begins as Clara’s medicine kicks in and her dreams come to life. From her bed high above the stage she watches as her Nutcracker, played by Daniel Morrison and his soldiers fight off Fritz and his buddies as they pelt them with stones from their slingshots. 

I particularly enjoyed the snow storm with its dancing snowflakes and the beautiful duet between Tonia Looker as a young nurse and Medhi Angot as a doctor. From here I really enjoyed the ballet – clever costuming from Kristian Fredrikson was in full force with the traditional tutus worn by the snowflakes and Arabian dancers clothed in lose harem pants and tops referencing the nurse’s uniforms from earlier. The Dance of the Mirlitons again has the audience giggling along with the occasional re-appearance of Fritz being chased by Matron.

Antonia Hewitt as Clara’s mother did a beautiful job of her solo to the most recognisable piece of music from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” as a Hollywood star. Her duet with Brendan Bradshaw as Father was also great to watch.

A whirlwind of dances brings Clara’s dream-state to a close, from a Spanish tea lady to Chinese dancers and graceful flower petals. I loved how this version used the characters from the real world in Clara’s dream world – I felt the characters were original and really kept the audience engaged.

It would be hard to leave this production without a smile on your face. It brings all the wonder and colour of a child’s world – both imaginary and real to life and reminded me of all that excitement I myself had as a child at Christmas. It is perfect to entertain both kids and adults at this time of year.

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‘A tale with a twist’ is the sub-title of this revisit to Garry Harris’ Nutcracker production first seen here in 2005 and restaged as a farewell season as Harris leaves the company after nine years at the helm.

There was as much excitement over the announcement of his successor, American Ethan Stiefel, at the opening of this season as there was about the ballet itself! This is a curious Nutcracker and almost a pantomime version in its caricatures and staging. Humour abounds and the role of Fritz (Paul Russel) was played with almost slapstick energy with Clara genuinely played as a little girl with almost no dancing at all.

Tonia Looker made the most of it, with gloriously articulated feet, but it would have been rewarding to actually see her dance! The leads in this production are the Mother (Clytie Campbell) and Father (Qi Huan) and they carry the key changes to the traditional storyline. Elegant and extreme in their expressions and reactions, they have some lovely movement and will settle more confidently into their partnering sequences as the season progresses.

The standout memory from the last time I saw this production was the eccentric ‘Mirlitons’ on crutches and again, these three stole the night. Clever moves, slick technique and great use of the music by Christopher Hinton-Lewis, Dimitri Kleioris and Pierre Doneq brought chuckles to the audience.

Sir Jon Trimmer as the buxom matron of the hospital got into the spirit and played it for laughs and there was magic aplenty in the special effects. The floating bed gave a perfect ‘looking from the outside in’ psychological edge to Clara’s concussion caused by over-active hijinks on Christmas morning. The Nutcracker prince led his soldiers but they tickled with feather dusters and lost something of their military edge and there was no sugar plum fairy!

It was a fantasy night at the ballet, and fun, but I missed the virtuosity that comes with classical ballet and the spun sugar magic and soaring lifts that fit so perfectly with Tchaikovsky’s score.

The Vector Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Young played well and seemed to be having as good a time in the pit as the dancers on the stage. His Nutcracker is a tribute to Garry Harris’ joy in his role as director of this company which has been, in his own words, an incredibly exciting adventure – his final season provides an equally exciting adventure for the audience.
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This ballet is a delightful romp and enormous fun, with much adventure, high comedy, fine dancing, spirited music and fabulous stage effects throughout. Gary Harris makes a new setting for an old tale, giving energy and interest to the story line. Production values are as high as we always expect with this company. I’m backing the home team and so is my granddaughter, not yet three, who when asked what she liked best, thought long and hard then whispered “All the things…”

The story by E.T Hoffmann is given a contemporary twist, which, whilst hugely entertaining, still treats the themes of sibling rivalry, gender difference and children’s hospitalisation with due respect. It is a strength of productions by Harris that he does not give all the honours just to a leading couple but creates many demanding dancing roles for a sizeable company ( a feature also of his recent production of Don Quixote.)  

Harris, who leaves the artistic directorship at the end of the year, will be long remembered here and a hard act to follow. (Withdrawal symptoms for him and us will be softened by his return to stage The Sleeping Beauty next year.)

Tchaikovsky’s music has sublime melodies and is rich with colourful effect. Just because the music is familiar doesn’t mean it plays itself however, and Kenneth Young, an outstanding conductor for dance, delivers the orchestra beautifully. If recent press reports about serious funding reductions for this civic orchestra are to be believed, we should be marching in the street at such absurdity. If Wellington city does not need an orchestra perhaps it doesn’t need an arts council, a transport system, a library or a daily newspaper either.

Tonia Looker was delightful as Clara, Paul Russell wonderfully boisterous as Fritz, Clytie Campbell and Qi Huan were dear parents. Brendan Bradshaw as a Young Doctor and Katie Hurst-Saxon as a Young Nurse gave an exquisite rendition of first love, cleverly choreographed into the Arabian dance. Jon Trimmer as busty Matron performing the Russian dance with Fritz, and a trio of Merlitons on crutches were further rib-tickling show-stoppers.  

One couple dancing high and swift, lost balance across two major lifting turns. Heart- stopping to see how they snatch themselves back from gravity (this is high-wire without a safety net) then embark courageously on the following lifts as though nothing had gone or ever would go wrong. It’s enough to reduce you to tears.

The printed programme is great fun, and will remind your children of what they saw. They will want to stage their own home version of some of it, and who knows where that will lead in the next generation. Bring it on.
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Five years after creating this version of The Nutcracker for the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company, departing Artistic Director, Gary Harris – following nine years in the position – has restaged it as his farewell offering,. It is a fitting “parting shot” to remember him by: colourful, lots of fun, boisterous, and above all, not too reverential.

Under Harris’ direction the Company has moved forward in incremental leaps to the point where, as he hands his charge over to the Company’s stellar new Director, Ethan Stiefel, he can be quietly confident that his tenure has left an indelible imprint for the better on this superb group of dancers.

The Nutcracker’s unfailing popular appeal, over the 118 years since it was first performed, is not hard to fathom when you consider the saccharine setting, with the world as seen through a child’s eyes and the slightly dark overtones of the Hoffman tale on which it is based. 

But Harris has inverted many of the ballet’s conventions to fit his own slightly wacky take, which is set in a children’s hospital and creates a series of visual gags and caricatures for our amusement. It is not in any way satirical, but appears to be rather a subversion of the sacrosanct in order to inject a little levity into the proceedings. 

Clara’s attachment to the Nutcracker Soldier Doll she receives as a Christmas present is still instrumental in conjuring up the magic dream-like sequences that take place, however. The role of Clara is beautifully performed by tiny Tonia Looker, who makes the most of the part, in spite of the small amount of dancing involved.

But the magic can also be explained away, in this version, as febrile imaginings from the concussion that Clara receives after being bumped on the head by her bother Fritz, who wants the Nutcracker Doll for himself. Added to the mix is the hefty dose of medicine administered to Clara by the Matron of the hospital, who is played by Jon Trimmer as a wannabe martinet, undermined by her ample bosom. 

As Clara drifts in and out of consciousness, the Nutcracker comes to life – danced by Medhi Angot – and summons his soldiers to fight Clara’s irrepressible brother, Fritz, who is danced with undisguised glee by Paul Russell. The soldiers’ weapons of choice are feather dusters designed to tickle unmercifully, while Fritz and his gang of boys fire their catapults in return. In fact, children’s games feature large in this ballet. Chasing, making-like-a-plane, bouncing on beds and pillow fights all take place in Act One as the scene is set. 

There is also a splendid threesome of stooge-like Doctors – Christopher Hinton-Lewis, Paul Mathews and Jaered Glavin – who take the mickey out of the Young Doctor and the Young Nurse, danced by Brendan Bradshaw and Katie Hurst-Saxton, who provide the requisite hospital romance. Their beautiful pas-de-deux in Act Two, when they dance the sensuous Arabian Dance, is one of high points of the evening. 

Clara often views proceedings suspended above the action on her hospital bed which hovers in the air as a sort of metaphor for heightened reality. She watches as the snowflakes take human form and dance and then later the traditional divertissement dances are performed for her entertainment, including the Chinese and Russian dances, Waltz of the Flowers and the Dance of the Mirlitons (reed flutes). 

Harris interprets the latter dance with a hilarious dead-pan trio of Christopher Hinton-Lewis, Dimitri Kleioris and Perre Doncq, dancing on crutches with their legs in plaster, which is clearly the audience favourite. 

Clytie Campbell and Qi Huan, who play Clara’s Mother and Father, are superb in Act One, hamming it up with some funny business over exploding Christmas lights. They also dance the Grand Pas-de-Deux in Act Two, but still seem to be settling into this section as partners, although the solo sections which include the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, are sparkling. 

It is also a chance for the Wellington Vector Orchestra to shine, which they do, interpreting the score with verve, under the experienced baton of Kenneth Young who also conducted for the 2005 season. 

You would be hard-pressed to emerge from this feel-good production without a smile on your face. Certainly all the audience members I see after the show ended, look very happy.
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