Wayne Eagling's 2010 version of The Nutcracker for English National Ballet has seen some much needed improvements over the years. The late Peter Farmer's sumptuous Edwardian designs are enchanting and the opening snow scene, with skaters skimming across the stage remains one of the prettiest of many productions around the world. My companion, who is not a regular balletgoer, asked if the stage was actually ice, if they were really skating and how they made the transition to the drawing room at Clara's family home so smoothly. Clearly, some festive magic was already working.
Eagling's Clara and her brother Freddie are played at the start by children from Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, on this occasion by Millicent Honour and Ethan Galeotti, who both show promise. Thus far, the plot is clear, with Dr Drosselmeyer and his handsome nephew entertaining the children and guests at a Christmas party in a suitable manner. The confusion begins with Clara's dream where she becomes a young adult (Julia Conway) who falls in love with the nameless Nephew (Francesco Gabriele Frola), but seems to believe that the Nutcracker (a first rate Fernando Carratalá Coloma), who is masked, and the Nephew are one and the same. We do too. During the famous pre-snow scene pas de deux the two men are constantly switching, which robs the narrative of any clarity.
Stand outs from Act 1 were Fabian Reimair's eccentric but not intimidating Drosselmeyer; the charming and lyrical Precious Adams as Clara's older sister, Louise, and James Streeter's flamboyant Mouse King. A word for ENB's fluttering Snowflakes – the snowflake scene is tough in any production, as Tchaikovsky's score demands. The pace is fast and maintaining technical standards is a real test of stamina. Led by Emily Suzuki and Adams again (another glitch in the casting narrative?), both were in superb, airborne form alongside the flurry and athleticism, as well as a near perfect uniformity of the shimmering flakes, which made for an exciting end to the first act.
Act 2 is comprised of a combination of divertissements representing various countries but, thankfully, without the rather disturbing version of the Arabian dance, which has been completely cut. A suave Spanish (Ivana Bueno, Jung ah Choi and Daniel McCormick) was followed by an updated and more watchable Chinese in which Katja Khaniukova, Van Le Ngoc and Miguel Angel Maidana pulled out all the stops. Adams, once more, was exquisite as the Mirliton and Ken Saruhashi wowed in the Russian dance. The corps de ballet impressed again in the Waltz of the Flowers with Suzuki and Isabelle Brouwers truly blossoming as the Lead Flowers.
Perhaps the main point of interest was the decision to cast Conway as Clara on the first night of a London season. She is not yet a first soloist. Frola, who is undoubtedly the leading principal of the company, was a good choice of partner, with his attentive and experienced support, very much in evidence. Conway was in her element as the adolescent Clara, with a remarkably robust technique and a believable curiosity and wonderment during her pas de deux with Frola. However, in the Grand pas de deux, though she danced with tremendous energy and aplomb, she lacked the elegance and delicacy that is a basic requirement for this role. Frola, on the other hand brings an experienced depth to his performance combined with his thrilling technical brilliance. I'm very keen that first night performances in classical ballet companies are not always given to the same senior principals, but sometimes giving someone time to develop away from the glare of the first night press, produces more fruitful results. Conway can certainly dance but in order to take the next step, she needs a watchful and caring eye and some fine tuning to her interpretation.
The English National Ballet Philharmonic were on splendid form with Principal Guest Conductor, Gavin Sutherland, delivering his usual, outstanding performance.
