National Ballet of Japan’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, choreographed by Wayne Eagling, has been in the company’s repertoire since 2017, and has become a family favourite, being revived almost every year. This season, they are doing 17 performances, which makes it the most performed production in a season.
This version follows the productions Eagling has created for other companies such as English National Ballet and Dutch National Ballet, but does have some notable differences from the previous ones. The leading male dancer plays the three roles of The Nephew, Nutcracker and the Prince, which makes it very demanding. Some choreography in the divertissements has made it particularly challenging, with plenty of partnering and difficult lifts. The Waltz of the Flowers involves a complicated series of pas de deux with the couples making multiple patterns alongside the corps de ballet. These were changes that Eagling made once he had seen the high standard of dancing at the National Ballet of Japan.
Six years has passed since this Nutcracker was taken into the repertoire, and the quality of dancing has been kept high in the leading roles. I watched the first cast, Ayako Ono as Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Yudai Fukuoka as the Nephew/Nutcracker and the Prince, and at every moment, they shone. In this production, a child dancer does the role of Clara until the clock strikes midnight and the Christmas tree grows. The moment Ono steps onto the stage as Clara in her dreams, the delightful carriage of her limbs, the delicate musicality and innocence of a young girl, bedazzles the audience.
One very lovely and memorable scene of this production is the pas de deux in the pine woods in winter, between the Nutcracker Prince and Clara, where their joy is crystallised in a magical duet, uplifting and blissful. Ono and Fukuoka have been dancing together since the premiere of this production, and Fukuoka’s partnering skills and Ono’s daring and swift leaps make this duet an exciting one. Their Sugar Plum Fairy pas de deux was flawless: Ono was sugary sweet with accurate, quick turns, beautifully arched and turned-out feet, excellent musicality and with Fukuoka's virtuoso leaps and perfect timing in the duets, this onstage couple were showing the audience what ballet heaven should look like.
There were also stand outs in the soloists, Keigo Fukuda’s Russian dance (and the old man in Act 1) had such flavour and lively charm as well as gravity defying jumps. Moeko Iino as Clara’s sister Louise mastered the very difficult Butterfly solo with ease, Yuzuki Hanagata as a snowflake was a standout soloist in the snow scene. And Yoshito Kinoshita as the Mouse King gave a humorous and attractive, masterful performance, even sometimes stealing the show with his larger-than-life stage presence. This production has the Mouse King in the title so it is a featured role, but few dancers can perform it with such panache.
There are some flaws in the production. The gauze curtain in Act 1 is supposed to represent Clara’s reality but it distracts the view as it hides the feet of the dancers. There is a lot of complicated partnering, especially lifts in the divertissements, that means some dancers are rarely on their feet and sometimes the choreography lacks musicality. Some audience members think that the Mouse King and his subordinates appearing in the snow scene are not suitable in the pure white act. The epilogue also does not use the original Tchaikovsky closing music.
Perhaps this production needs some modification. But there are no so-called Yellowface issues in this production. There is much to enjoy: the heavenly choir in the snow scene, Tchaikovsky’s nostalgic and emotional score played by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra under the passionate baton of the Ukrainian maestro Alexei Baklan, and above all the marvellous leads Ono and Fukuoka. This is a Christmas treat for everyone, especially popular among family audiences. In fact, this production is a favourite of my 10 year old son!
