Ballet - The Nutcracker

Performance: The Nutcracker
Performed by: English National Ballet
Date: 18th December 2015
Location: The Coliseum, Covent Garden, London
Seat: Balcony, Row B, Seat 27
Rating: 5/10


Firstly, I must apologise for how late this review is, christmas and university work has made it impossible to update the blog.
I was initially incredibly excited about going to see the Nutcracker, especially at Christmas. However, I felt a little bit let down by this particular performance. Admittedly, a lot of it could have been a serious mistake on my behalf for booking me and boyfriend tickets to the matinee production, which is something i've sworn off almost entirely, theatre is for the evening! However, the tickets were completely sold out on evening performances before christmas so this was my only option.  To their credit, ENO did warn me prior to booking that there would be children at the performance, but I really have to warn those of you considering taking the risk, just don't. This might not be the popular view, but what possesses parents to bring their under three year olds to two and a half hour ballets?! The ENO and ENB run special child friendly opera's and ballets so that children can enjoy the magic of such productions, whilst simultaneously condensing and abridging so that children do not lose focus, as they do. With the constant running commentary going on behind me, to the running up and down the balcony stairs, clicking mouth and random bursts of applause midway through dance from the very small child behind, it is safe to say, I found it so difficult to concentrate, enjoy and appreciate the ENB's beautiful dancing and Tchaikovsky's wonderful music.
Whilst I fully appreciate and even encourage introducing children to theatre at a young age, too much is too much, a young three year old is simply not going to appreciate a two-hour ballet. If they are being disruptive it is down to the parent to chastise the child, not just let them run up and down balcony stairs, throw their binoculars down said stairs and complain loudly throughout the entire performance.
That said, it happened and I have learnt from my mistakes! However, there were a few other reasons I didn't enjoy the ballet as much as I had hoped.
After The Sleeping Beauty, Tchaikovsky was once again called upon to write both an opera and a ballet, in which he adapted E.T.A Hoffman's story The Nutcracker and The Mouse King. It was first performed in 1892, as a two part ballet, and despite its unsuccessful beginnings still today remains one of Tchaikovsky's most famous, and recognisable repertoires. It contributes to nearly 50% of ballet ticket sales overall! As discussed, in other blog posts, Tchaikovsky is quite possibly my all time favourite composer, and particularly The Nutcracker Suites I have grown up on through the likes of Disney's Fantasia. Therefore, the music itself cannot be faulted. It was every bit as wondrous as I had hoped, and the orchestra played it flawlessly.
However, the dancing itself was somewhat troubling to me. Whist I certainly cannot pertain to be a ballet dancer or critic myself, I felt the dancing was not quite together. Particularly in Waltz of the Snowflakes and Arabian Dance (my favourite piece from the ballet) I felt the dancing wasn't quite all there, it was a little messy and out of sync, and not necessarily just these dances alone but other parts of the ballet. In complete contrast, Spanish Dance, Russian Dance, Chinese Dance were fantastic and The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy was astounding. Unfortunately, these were in the minority and I did not find my breathe taken away for the most part.
On the other hand, I have nothing but praise for the costumes. I feel one of the main parts of a ballet, is the costume as there is no speech, you focus more intently on such things. As the programme states, there are over 400 Swarovski Crystal elements in each of the nine Sugar Plum Fairy costumes, which amounts to £10,000 worth of crystal, so as you can imagine, the costumes sparkled beautifully and poured with regal beauty. But more than that, the costumes of the rats and the Rat King caught my attention even more! They were absolutely amazing, and genuinely terrifying, and how the dancers danced with such large rat heads balanced on top of their heads is beyond me. The costumes truly were astounding, so there is plenty of praise for that aspect.
Overall, I felt myself coming away from the production disappointed. which was really unexpected. The audience were unfortunately a lot of the problem, which there is nobody to blame for, however, I feel the dancing was not completely up to scratch, and some of the choreography was slightly dull, none of the dancing took my breathe away entirely, that is not to say the dancers are not incredible, they obviously very much are. I would love to go back and see if a different audience would perhaps change my perception, so maybe I shall try again next year!