|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Theatre listings > Choreographer – Ashley Page. Designer – Antony McDonald. Lighting Designer – Peter Mumford. Composer – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Music – Scottish Ballet Orchestra, conductor, Dobbs Franks. Dancers - here . Company – Scottish Ballet – Company Website. Venues and Dates - Theatre Royal Glasgow, 11 – 31 December, then goes to Edinburgh, Inverness, and finally Belfast Grand Opera House. Tour details. Run Time – 2 hours and 20 minutes. One interval. Reviewer – Vivien Devlin . Imaginative, haunting and visually exciting. The Nutcracker Ballet is based on the story The Nutcracker and the King of Mice written by E.T.A. Hoffman (1816). This sinister fantasy featuring a nightmare-inducing seven-headed mouse king was never intended for children. When Marius Petipa decided to choreograph the story into a ballet, it was based on a version by Alexander Dumas. It’s this sweet, Sugar Plum fairytale that has become a Christmas classic. For this new Scottish Ballet production, artistic director Ashley Page has re-read Hoffman’s original tale to explore the darker themes of good and evil, fantasy and sexual desire. From the first startling image of a girl with a terrified expression as she reads the story, we realise this is a Nutcracker with a hard centre. The setting is Germany in the wild, decadent flapper-girl period of the 1920s. The opening winter scene is quite magical as guests arrive at the home of Dr. Stahlbaum which opens up like a doll’s house. Christmas tree, presents, cocktails and a gramophone are all ready for a party. Herr Drosselmeyer, a clockmaker and godfather to Stahlbaum’s three children, arrives with his presents. Marie (Monica Zamora) is given a Nutcracker soldier doll and a book which she places in her own toy doll’s house. Meanwhile, the guests dressed in glamorous silk and velvet, enjoy some energetic dancing with a few, quick Cha Cha, Charleston steps neatly incorporated. Then the party entertainment – and Marie’s hallucinatory journey to find her Nutcracker Prince – begins. To try and encapsulate the extraordinary, surreal world she enters, imagine Alice Through the Looking Glass, a giant Christmas tree, Bunny Girl maids and Monty Python cut-out heads and hands. Enter a troupe of menacing black mice led by a bob haired, vampish dominatrix, Dame Mouserink (Diana Loosmore). Voyeurs – including Tchaikovsky himself- peep through the window to watch as we look out on the winter wonderland of a forested mountain. With a whirlwind of icy air, the Snowflakes blow inside. The acrobatic dance of the two bad snowflakes is fast, furious and menacing, while the snowflake chorus is a graceful ice-blue dreamlike vision. In Act II the series of Divertissements show the individual dancers at their best with perfect characterisation, exquisite duets and ensemble precision. The grand pas de deux between Marie and the Prince (Erik Cavallari) is the original Lev Ivanov choreography. All in all, fabulous costumes, outrageous sets and the fine Tchaikovsky score to which Page has created a fresh, contemporary choreographic twist blended with classical technique. Imaginative, haunting and visually exciting from start to finish. ©Vivien Devlin, 14 December, 2004 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Review of this Production when it premiered in 2003. 2004 - 5 Cast:Herr Drosselmeyer, Jarkko Lehmus, Dr. Stahlbaum/Mouse King – Robert Doherty, Frau Stahlbaum – Eve Mutso, Marie – Monica Zamora, Fritz – Adam Blyde, Louise – Martina Forioso, The Governess/Dame Mouserink – Diana Loosmore, Hans Peter, Nutcracker – Glauco Di Lieto, The Nutcracker Prince – Erik Cavallari, Bad Snowflakes – Diana Loosmore, Patricia Hines, Princess Pirlipat – Viviana Mastrella and Maids, mice, soldiers, dancers – Artists of Scottish Ballet. Tour Details of Scottish Ballet's 2004 - 5 production of The Nutcracker . Tour begins 11 – 31 December, 2004 at Glasgow Theatre Royal 0141 332 9000. 6 – 15 January, 2005 at Edinburgh Festival Theatre 0131 529 6000. 19-22 January, 2005. at Inverness Eden Court Theatre 01463 234234. 1 – 5 February, 2005 at Belfast Grand Opera House 028 9024 1919. Tour ends
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|||