The Nutcracker ballet. Music by Tchaikovsky. Choreographed by Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov. Directed 2016 by Peter Wright at the Royal Opera House.
Stars Gary Avis (Drosselmeyer); Francesca Hayward (Clara, Drosselmeyer's god-daughter); Alexander Campbell (Hans-Peter/The Nutcracker, Drosselmeyer's nephew), and:
Act 1. Luca Acri (Drosselmeyer's Assistant); Caroline Jennings and Susan Nye (Maiden Aunts); Barbara Rhodes (Housekeeper); Christopher Saunders (Dr. Stahlbaum, Clara's father); Elizabeth McGorian (Mrs. Stahlbaum); Caspar Lench (Fritz, Clara's brother); Benjamin Elia (Clara's Partner); Kristen McNally (Grandmother); Alastair Marriott (Grandfather); Christina Arestis (Dancing Mistress); Johannes Stepanek (Captain); Fernando Montaño (Harlequin); Leticia Stock (Columbine); Marcelino Sambé (Soldier); Mayara Magri (Vivandière); Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød (St. Nicholas); Nicol Edmonds (Mouse King)
Act 2. Lauren Cuthbertson (Sugar Plum Fairy); Federico Bonelli (The Prince); members of the London Oratory Junior Choir (Singers); Christina Arestis, Johannes Stepanek, Tara-Brigitte Bhavnani, Fernando Montaño, Tierney Heap and Eric Underwood (Spanish Dance); Itziar Mendizabal, Ryoichi Hirano, Reece Clarke, and Nicol Edmonds (Arabian Dance); Luca Acri, Marcelino Sambé (Chinese Dance); Kevin Emerton and Paul Kay (Russian Dance); Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Emma Maguire, Mayara Magri, and Leticia Stock (Dance of the Mirlitons); Yuhui Choe (Rose Fairy); Matthew Ball, James Hay, Tomas Mock, Valentino Zuccheti (Rose Fairy Escorts); Claire Calvert, Helen Crawford, Hikaru Kobayashi, and Beatriz Stix-Brunell (Leading Flowers).
In addition, artists of The Royal Ballet and students of the Royal Ballet School portray Snowflakes, Relatives, Friends of Stahlbaum family, Soldiers, Mice, Servants, Children and other roles.
Boris Gruzin conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Peter Manning) and the London Oratory Junior Choir (Choir Director Charles Cole). Designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman; lighting by Mark Henderson; production consultant was Rolan John Wiley; staging by Christopher Carr; ballet mistress was Samantha Raine; ballet master was Jonathan Howells; assistant ballet mistress was Sian Murphy; principal coaching by Christopher Carr, Jonahtan Cope, Viviana Durante, and Jonathan Howells; Benesh notators were Mayumi Hotta and Lorraine Gregory. Directed for screen by Ross McGibbon. Released 2017, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound output. Grade: B
We did a detailed review of this same production (with an earlier set of star dancers) shot in 2009. Call this “ROBNutcracker1.” We gave ROBNutcracker1 a B and declared it not competitive with stronger competition. We went on to say, "The Peter Wright production could be competitive again if the Royal Ballet would revive it with (1) new sets and costumes, (2) drill the female corps more thoroughly, (3) write new divertissement dances, and (4) make a clean, bright video." Now we have our 2016 revival, which we call ROBNutcracker2. So let's see how the Royal Ballet has done by The Nutcracker between ROBNutcracker1 and ROBNutcracker2.
At the outset we note that the choreography, sets, and costumes are basically identical in ROBNutcracker1 and ROBNutcracker2 except that in Act 2 the 4 rather insipid Chinese dancers from ROBNutcracker1 are reduced to 2 in ROBNutcracker2. Now let's look at 7 screenshots from the ROBNutcracker2 Act 1 showing the Stahlbaums' party and Clara's dream. For each of these 7 shots there is a doppelgänger in the ROBNutcracker1 review for you to compare if you like.
In ROBNutcracker2, Clara is danced by the warmly brunette Francesca Hayward and her friend is portrayed by Benjamin Ella:
Clara's mom (Elisabeth McGorian), dad (Christopher Saunders), and grandfather (Alastair Marriott) are the same:
Gary Avis is the same splendid Drosselmeyer:
And the dream battle unfolds the same. If you compare these 7 shots from ROBNutcracker1 and ROBNutcracker2, you can clearly see that MacGibbon has better cameras the second go around than before. The ROBNutcracker2 images are sharper and MacGibbon was able to get better color even in the dark scenes. The generally "washed out" look from ROBNutcracker1 is gone. In our ROBNutcracker1 viewing, we complained that the costumes looked old and worn. Now we see that our criticism of the costumes arose in part because the ROBNutcracker1 cameras generally were not able to make pretty images of them. Another difference between ROBNutcracker1 and ROBNutcracker2 is that MacGibbon in ROBNutcracker2 generally increased the range of his camera views throughout. He was able to do this, of course, thanks to the greater resolution available from the newer gear. So this time the ROB has produced the "clean, bright video" we asked for.
Hans Peter is free! Compare this next ROBNutcracker2 image below to the same shot in ROBNutcracker1 for further proof that MacGibbon in ROBNutcracker2 was trying for more full stage shots than before:
Now compare this Land of Snow shot to the similar shot in ROBNutcracker1. The improvement in clarity is startling:
Most of Act 2 takes place in the Sugar Garden in the Kingdom of Sweets. The female corps dances in ROBNutcracker2 with more precision than before:
But the divertissement country dances continue to be an grave embarrassment for the ROB:
In ROBNutcracker1 the Arabian girl was too fat (Laura McCullock); in ROBNutcracker2, she's too lean (Itziar Mendizabal):
The Russian dance is unimaginative and boring:
But Yuhui Choe is pretty as the Rose Fairy in the Waltz of the Flowers:
All 7 screenshots shown so far from Act 2 take place in front of the Garden of Sweets set. As the years go by, this set looks increasing tacky to us with all that glitter. Clever lighting is used to keep it from looking too monotonous:
At this point we should report that the playing of the ROH Orchestra seems especially vivid and well recorded here. Finally, we did a ballet Wonk Worksheet to see how MacGibbon's video content fares under our standards for modern Blu-ray ballet recordings. Overall his statistics are lackluster with a too-fast pace of 8.75 seconds per clip and only 68% of the shots showing the full bodies of the dancers. In Act 2, which has more formal dancing and less narrative content than Act 1, MacGibbon did achieve a slower pace of 11 seconds per chip. (We didn't try to run the numbers on the ROBNutcracker1 show---we are pretty sure they would be dismal because MacGibbon in 2006 was shooting closer to the action than in 2016.)
We conclude that the subject ROBNutcracker2 is clearly stronger than the earlier version with a much prettier video, better corps dancing, and more vivid sound. But the sets and costumes are the same and the divertissement dances are sadly obsolete. A distinct element of DVDitis remains in MacGibbon's video content. And between 2006 and 2016, a bunch of great Nutcrackers were published by the competition. So we give ROBNutcracker2 the same B grade as ROBNutcracker1, but ROBNutcracker2 would be our pick between the 2 versions.
Here are 2 good clips of this:
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