ROYAL BALLET, THE NUTCRACKER, ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, COVENT GARDEN, DECEMBER, 1990 |
| From: EVENING STANDARD, December
31, 1990 Dance Review by Edward Thorpe AN IMMOVABLE FEAST OF MIMEThe NutcrackerRoyal Opera House One of the weaknesses of Peter Wright’s production of «The Nutcracker» for the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden is the lack of dancing. As with so many versions of this ballet, the imbalance of the scenario, adapted from Hoffmann’s story, gives us a first act that is all narrative and a second act that is all dancing, but what there is frequently bland and unexciting... In the first act we have brief solos for the four mechanical dolls, and two ensembles for the children and adults at the party. They are not without charm, but it is lost amid the plethora of mime. It is not until the Snowflake Waltz for the corps de ballet which concludes the act that there is anything really rewarding. Here, one must be grateful for the careful reconstruction of Lev Ivanov’s original choreography, an exquisite classical gem. In the second act the national dances, particularly the Spanish and Russian, are uninspiring. Much depends then on the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier’s performance of the grand pas de deux, variations and coda if we are not to feel that we have been watching a wordless pantomime rather than a ballet... On Friday evening the two Bolshoi stars, Nina Ananiashvili and Alexei Fadeyechev, gave a marvelous account of these roles: perfect polished classicism shot through with real unforced virtuosity, elegance with brilliance. One really could not expect to see this lovely pas de deux better danced...
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