Just one is powerful enough to stun the Mouse King. Hayward’s elegant feet take her where she needs to be, as if in a dream: like the Red Shoes, her pointe shoes are imbued with magic, though good, not bad. (They’re a lot more natural now than their predecessors used to be, drilled into daintiness.) She responds so joyously to Tchaikovsky’s music that she does indeed seem enchanted on her journey with Drosselmeyer’s nephew, Hans-Peter – Alexander Campbell, a charming Nutcracker. Hayward is petite enough to look as child-like as the Royal Ballet School youngsters at the Stahlbaums’ party.
That includes Clara, his favourite, who, in the shape of Francesca Hayward, is on her way to a glittering future.įrancesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell in The Nutcracker. Now he’s a benign, glamorous master-of-ceremonies who brings a sparkle of gold dust to everything he touches. Drosselmeyer used to be rather a sinister figure, with a black patch over one eye.
The magician who brings all this about is the central character of Drosselmeyer – Gary Avis on the opening night of this revival. Toy figures in Act I turn into children, then into adults in Act II the marzipan and icing sugar confection at the Christmas party becomes the palace of the Kingdom of the Sweets. One of the pleasures of repeated visits to live performances is appreciating how cleverly the producer/choreographer and his designer link the two acts and how, like Alice in Wonderland, the scale changes from small to big. They are so intricately detailed that it comes as something of a revelation to see them close up on a big screen, however many times you might have been to The Nutcracker in the theatre. The designs, by Julia Trevelyan Oman, remain the same. The Royal Ballet and students of the Royal Ballet School in The Nutcracker. Sir Peter has revised the 1984 production during its 31 years, watching young Claras grow into ballerinas and even ballet mistresses. He adapted Marius Petipa’s 1892 scenario and made it his own over ninety per cent of the choreography is his, apart from Lev Ivanov’s Grand pas de deux (and possibly the Chinese dance in Act II).). (Click image for larger version)Ĭredits for the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker acknowledge that the ballet is essentially Peter Wright’s. © Dave Morgan, courtesy the Royal Opera House. Romany Pajdak, Grace Blundell, Chisato Katsura, Iana Salenko, Steven McRae and Gina Storm-Jensen in The Nutcracker.
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