The Nutcracker gets Scrooged at Prague’s National Theatre

Anyone attending Youri Vàmos’ production of The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol at Prague’s National Theatre might be forgiven for thinking they had stumbled into Lionel Bart’s Oliver. There were moments in Act 1 when I expected the corps to burst into “Step in time”, so exuberantly did they kick up their heels in the Christmas card-perfect, half-timbered Victorian London setting. There, locals seethe with barely-contained disdain for skinflint Ebeneezer Scrooge – yes, Dickens’ legendary curmudgeon!

This version premiered at Opera Bonn in 1988 and has been revived at countless theatres since. The entire first act is reinvented to recount Scrooge’s epiphany into a kinder, selfless neighbour, employer and friend. Before that, he is subjected to repeated fist shaking by the corps who amusingly scuttle into their respective domains whenever his gangly spectre appears. As Scrooge, corps member John Powers uses his natural height to great advantage to menace his fellow townsfolk and then to quite different effect in Act 2 for a comic dance that recalls Widow Simone in Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée.

The opening scenes set up a lot of important exposition: Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s long suffering clerk wishes he could provide a fat Christmas goose but his wife, Mrs. Cratchit, must settle for a much scrawnier fowl. Their daughter Clara has her eye on three dolls including a Santa Lucia lookalike, a menacing Devil and her favourite, the Nutcracker. She is denied all three as Scrooge unceremoniously fires Cratchit on Christmas Eve.

Act 1 is jam packed with exuberant choreography for the corps which is unfortunately difficult to decipher due to the forced perspective of the townscape façades that constrict the available space. Still, six officers of the Queen's Guard, in their bright red uniforms and tall black hats (Busbies/bearskins) impressed with their militaristic, stiff upper body moves which are brilliantly synched with Tchaikovsky’s famous trumpet fanfare march.

The three aforementioned dolls are significant as they presage the alter egos of three Act 1 characters: Mrs. Cratchit becomes the Christmas Fairy with signature Santa Lucia candle wreath headdress; the Policeman changes to the Nutcracker Prince and most intriguingly, the meek, mistreated Cratchit morphs into a very camp, vengeful Devil.

Yes, at this juncture Vàmos’s libretto veers even further away from tradition. After taking to his curtained bed, Scrooge is awakened by a gang of zombie-like creatures led by none other than the Devil himself. Portions of the score usually associated with the magical, growing Christmas tree and the battle of the Mouse King are given over to a frenzied dance for the male ‘zombie’ corps as well as some of the evening’s most bravura moves for Patrik Holeček as Mephisto, brilliant in his repeated high jetés en tournant in attitude.

Then, just as the Devil/Cratchit is about to exact revenge on Scrooge with a huge sword, he is stopped by the Christmas Fairy, and thus begins Ebeneezer’s social rehabilitation, as well as our journey into more conventional Nutcracker fairyland. The Fairy reintroduces Clara and the Policeman who are magically transformed into a sparkly white Princess and Prince. They dance a pas de deux to the traditional Snow Queen music featuring jaw-dropping architectural lifts for first soloist Alina Nanu, legs perfectly outstretched at right angles, seemingly held aloft forever by demisoloist Erivan Garioli. The act ends with demanding patterns for the full corps who couldn’t have been helped by synchronisation problems resulting from orchestral tempi that were consistently ahead of the pre-recorded, piped-in children’s chorus.

In Act 2, Scrooge is joined by a cadre of little girls who are whisked on stage sleeping in a huge bed. The Christmas Fairy, enchantingly-danced throughout by soloist Evgeniya Victory Gonzalez, conjures a huge decorated tree and oversized gifts containing dancers who burst forth to perform the national variations we associate with most traditional Nutcrackers. Corps de ballet member Misato Isogami was particularly charming, and not a little menacing with her long, sharp metal talons in the “Chinese” dance. Soloist Kristýna Němečková and first soloist Giovanni Rotolo brought slinky sensuality to their “Arabian” variation complete with ‘hoochy-koochy’ arm gestures. Many companies today have excised these two variations as culturally inappropriate, so for this North American at least, it was unusual to see their inclusion.

The apogee of any Nutcracker has to be the grand pas de deux and here, Nanu and Garioli did not disappoint. With its quick batterie and repeated en dedans turns, Nanu handled the Sugar Plum Fairy variation with grace and virtuosity while Garioli thrilled with his grand jetés around the stage.

The appeal of this very particular take on such a well-known story ballet probably depends on one’s feelings about the importance of the relationship between composer and his original libretto. Regardless, Vàmos’s take should be taken on its own merits and in Prague, seems to have found an appreciative and admiring public.