Will Tuckett's Nutcracker for National Ballet of Japan is delightful

National Ballet of Japan in Will Tuckett's The Nutcracker

Yudai Fukuoka as Drosselmeyer, Yui Yonezawa as Clara and Takafumi Watanabe as the Nutcracker

National Ballet of Japan in Will Tuckett's The Nutcracker

Yui Yonezawa as Sugar Plum Fairy and Takafumi Watanabe as Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker

By Naomi Mori, 24 December 2025

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“colourful, funny and charming, a complete contrast to the stylish designs of Act 1”

Reviewed at New National Theatre, Tokyo: Opera House, Tokyo on 19 December 2025

The Nutcracker (Lev Ivanov, Will Tuckett)

National Ballet of Japan

Martin Yates, Conductor

Misato Tomita, Conductor

Colin Richmond, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

BRB’s The Nutcracker at the Royal Albert Hall is at its best

Deborah Weiss, 29th December

Sir Peter Wright’s beautiful Nutcracker ticks every box with Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Royal Albert Hall.

****1

NEBT’s Nutcracker: pared down, efficient and exuberant

Deborah Weiss, 18th December

Valentino Zucchetti's Nutcracker for New English Ballet Theatre's may be economical on numbers but the cast make up for it in commitment.

***11

The Nutcracker in Buenos Aires brings joy for all age groups

Fátima Nollén, 16th December

Ballet Teatro Colón's production of The Nutcracker by Silvia Bazilis is a delight from start to finish, clearly aimed at engaging families.

****1

Candy-crazed: ENB’s sweet-toothed Nutcracker returns

Mark Pullinger, 11th December

Returning for its first anniversary, Arielle Smith and Aaron S Watkin’s Nutcracker for English National Ballet remains a feast for hungry eyes, despite its flaws.

***11

The Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker: exceptional performances

Amanda Jennings, 22nd November

The Royal Ballet opened the Christmas season with a superlative performance of Sir Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker.

*****

30 years on, Bourne’s Swan Lake still shines in Amsterdam

Mark Vicente, 30th October

Thirty years after its original production, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake makes its return to the stage championed by an impressive ensemble of dance artists from Bourne’s own company New Adventures.

*****

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Naomi Mori

Naomi is a blogger living in Tokyo and travels frequently to see ballet. She is a law graduate of Waseda University and a former film publicist, film critic and IT business researcher/strategist. She blogs at La Dolce Vita in Japanese. She tweets about ballet as @naomip_86. and takes ballet class regularly