Nutcracker

Nutcracker ballet. Music by Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky. Choreographed by Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov. Directed 2009 by Peter Wright at the Royal Opera House. Stars Gary Avis, Iohna Loots, Ricardo Cervera, Jonathan Howells, Caroline Jennings, Susan Nye, Romayne Grigorova, Christopher Saunders, Elizabeth McGorian, Thomas Bedford, Paul Kay, Vanessa Fenton, Alastair Marriott, Genesia Rosato, David Pickering, Brian Maloney, Bethany Keating, Kenta Kura, Helen Crawford, Kevin Emerton, Miyako Yoshida, Steven McRae, Kristen McNally, Sian Murphy, Erico Montes, Cindy Jourdain, Thomas Whitehead, Laura McCulloch, Ryoichi Hirano, Fernando Montaño, Johannes Stepanek, Liam Scarlett, Andrej Uspenski, Jonathan Watkins, James Wilkie, Michael Stojko, Elizabeth Harrod, Emma Maguire, Akane Takada, Laura Morena, Ernst Meisner, Sergei Polunin, Yuhui Choe, Hikaru Kobayashi, Samantha Raine, and Artists of the Royal Ballet. Koen Kessels conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Peter Manning) and the London Oratory Junior Choir (Director Charles Cole). Designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman; lighting by Mark Henderson; production consultation by Roland John Wiley; staging by Christopher Carr; directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2010, has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio. Grade: A

This broadside blast from the Royal Opera House Ballet is set sometime between George and Victoria in a grand house. As lovingly explained by Peter Wright himself in an extra, this show tells the story from the point of view of the Nutcracker. He is Hans-Peter, Drosselmeyer's nephew, who has been turned into a nutcracker doll by the evil Queen of the Mice. To free Hans-Peter of the spell, Clara must first love the ugly doll. Check. Then Hans-Peter must kill the King of the Mice. This he does with the the help of Clara, who whacks the Mouse King on the head with her shoe. Thank you, Ma'am. There is little romance in this production for Clara, and this might be disappointing to older girls in your audience.

Lavish scenery, props, costumes, and use of character dancers support the stars and the female corp of 24. I liked the Christmas party and the battle scene. But much of the mise-en-scène in Art II seems a bit dated. Laura Morera as the Rose Fairy is great, as always. But otherwise, much of the dancing seems uninspired. The Waltz of the Snowflakes and the character dances from the Spanish up to the Waltz of the Flowers are dull compared to, for example, the same numbers as performed by the San Francisco Ballet.

Still, Opus Arte saves the day for this production with excellent video free of motion artifacts and splendid loss-less surround sound. For technical merit, I upgrade what would be "B" or "B+" grade to "A."