Just the day after Halloween and the Nutcracker is already inescapably among us! But with a setting removed so far from the norm that we could escape by imagining that Havana had somehow settled upon Norwich. And, why not?
The ubiquitous Carlos Acosta – because he does seem to be everywhere, all at once – has taken a novel approach to this much-loved festive story by setting it in his home city of Havana, an innovation made all the more special since Christmas was effectively banned in Cuba during the first 20+ years of his life.
Norwich had the honour of this world premiere since the theatre had co-commissioned the work with Valid Productions, the producing arm of Acosta Danza. At a time when theatre is under threat, it’s refreshing to see this risk-taking courage from Stephen Crocker and his team at Norwich Theatre (an “umbrella body” for three venues in the city). As an aside, this performance was not “by” but “with” Acosta Danza and the reason for that subtlety was unclear.
Structurally, everything one might expect from this most familiar of winter ballets is in its correct place, albeit given a strong Cuban flavour in design and music. The score is always recognisably that of Tchaikovsky but Pepe Gavilondo Peon’s arrangement featuring electric guitar, trombone, Cuban lute, saxophone (etc) gives that distinctive Cuban sound. It is a refreshing treatment of very familiar music.
As in many productions of Nutcracker, the weak link is in act one and the Havana touch hasn’t improved upon this problem. The party has been removed from the Stahlbaum mansion and placed in the much less populous setting of a Havana household, dominated by doddery grandparents (the always delightful Verónica Corveas and Denzil Francis). The weakest element is the battle between the Rat King (a quick change of costume for Francis) and his rat army versus the Mambi doll and her mambises.
Laura Rodríguez brought all the wide-eyed innocence and expectation of excitement that defines the central role of Clara, eagerly joining in the Russian dance of Raúl Reinoso (who had been Fritz at the act one party). The Havana Drosselmeyer is a besuited uncle with a glittery waistcoat who engages the children with magic tricks and presents (including, of course, the Nutcracker doll) and the role was given a suitably commanding presence by Alexander Varona.
A peculiar oddity was to suddenly slip into La Fille mal gardée, firstly in a parody of the clog dance, performed by the grandparents in one-strap beach sandals and then through the surreal momentary introduction of the exact-same maypole used in Ashton’s bucolic ballet.
Both acts are introduced by clever video designs (from Nina Dunn for Pixellux) imagining a flight through the streets of old Havana in the snow and another key design device is a white sports car that both introduces the live action on stage and transports Clara and Drosselmeyer to the land of the snow.
Whilst a little disappointed overall by act one, the second act was sensational, not least in a succession of excellent national dances. Melisa Moreda and Brian Ernesto kicked things off with a memorably adventurous Spanish Dance, followed by a sensuous, rippling Arab Dance with tremendous lifts, performed by Chay Deivis and Amisaday Naara, the latter wearing loose-fitting harem pants that were slashed at the side from knee to waist. Elizabeth Tablada, Frank Isaac and Thalía Cardín performed a flowing Dance of the Mirlitons.
Just as I was pleased to see a traditional (and inoffensive) attempt at the Arabian Dance, so it was with the Chinese dance where bare-chested Leandro Fernandez and Brandy Martínez faced off in an acrobatic kung fu inspired duet that avoided Yellowface cliché.
The showpiece of any Nutcracker performance is the grand pas de deux and it was a huge bonus to welcome Laurretta Summerscales back to the UK to shine here as the most radiant Sugar Plum Fairy. It was a reminder of what we have missed since she moved from English National Ballet to Munich’s Bayerisches Staatsballett, some seven years ago. Her prince at this world premiere was Acosta Danza’s Alejandro Silva, a strong technical performer – his variation was excellent – although I’m not convinced that their partnership was the best match.
As one might imagine with a show made somewhere between Havana and Norwich (we were told that the set was being repainted an hour before curtain up) this opening night had a few (minor) flaws and act one could certainly do with some tightening. However, the excellent choreography and performance of the second act more than compensated for these teething problems and as Havana moves on from Norwich to eight more English venues between now and the end of January, it will provide a fascinating and refreshing take on this old favourite. Just like snow in Havana, it will be a unique experience well worth seeing.
