Choreographed
by Ben Stevenson OBE
Music by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Set Designed
by Thomas Boyd
Costumed
designed by Desmond Heeley
Lighting
designed by David Walters, recreated by Cameron Goerg
Presented by
Queensland Ballet
Canberra
Theatre 23- 27th November 2016
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
After an
absence of twenty-five years, Queensland Ballet returned to the Canberra
Theatre last night, with their production of Ben Stevenson’s acclaimed version
of “The Nutcracker”. This production was devised by Stevenson for the Houston
Ballet in 1987, and has been danced by them, as a Christmas treat, every year
since, until it was replaced by a new version by Stanton Welch in 2016.
Queensland
Ballet’s Artistic Director, Li Cunxin, danced in this production in 1979, shortly
after arriving in Houston from China, at the invitation of Stevenson. He acquired
this version for Queensland Ballet four years ago and revived that tradition by
presenting it every Christmas since.
The
production is visually beautiful, with snowy Christmas card settings by Thomas
Boyd. Desmond Heeley’s exquisite costume designs have been carefully reproduced
by Queensland Ballet under the supervision of associate costume designer,
Noeline Hill, and Stevenson’s elegant, inventive choreography is superbly
danced by the company.
The ballet
commences with Christmas party guests arriving through the snow to be welcomed
by their hosts into a cosy room with a glowing fire and large Christmas tree. Delightfully detailed vignettes evolve around
excited children bickering over presents. The party entertainment is provided
by the avuncular Dr. Drosselmeyer (Shane Wuerthner), who presents a special
gift of a wooden nutcracker doll to Clara, beautifully danced and charmingly
portrayed by Mia Heathcote.
 |
| Mia Heathcote as Clara |
Following
the party, Clara is woken from her sleep by giant mice. She kills the leader with her shoe when suddenly her
nutcracker doll transforms into a Prince (Alexander Idaszak) who summons up a
sleigh to transport her to the magical Kingdom of the Sweets, where she is
welcomed by angelic pastry cooks, the sugar plum fairy (Yanela Pinera), and
Mother Ginger (Liam Geck) who secrets children under her voluminous skirts.
A series of
gorgeous divertissement follow in which both principals and corps de ballet
impressed with the accuracy and attention to detail of their dancing, whether performing as party guests, snowflakes,
toy soldiers, or during the gorgeous Waltz of the Flowers for which they were stylishly
led by Teri Crilly and Camilo Ramos.
 |
| The Waltz of the Flowers |
Particularly
memorable among these divertissements were the extraordinarily sinuous Arabian
dancers, Lina Kim and Joel Woellner, and the athletic Chinese dancers, D’Arcy
Brazier and Zuquan Kou.
 |
| The Arabian Dance |
Laura
Hidalgo was the most regal of Snow Queens, elegantly partnered by Alexander
Idaszak as her Prince. Their perfectly executed grand pas de deux, which brings
the ballet to its climax, fully deserved the thunderous applause which greeted
its climax.
 |
| The Snow Queen and Prince |
This season
of “The Nutcracker”, has provided Canberra audiences with its first opportunity
to see Queensland Ballet under the artistic direction of Li Cunxin. Given the success of the season, for which
all performances are completely sold out, it is hoped that it will herald the
beginning of regular visits by the Queensland Ballet to the National
Capital.
This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 24th November 2016