Allan McIntyre: The Nutcracker 'not-so-suite'!
Wednesday, May 14 2003, 04:52
On Saturday night I travelled to Aberdeen with my mate, Libby, and tutor, Calatha Seesmore, to see Matthew Bourne's 'Nutcracker!'
What a cracker it was!
Now please don't get me wrong, I have the up most respect for this man, and equally his dancers, but come on!
As a Nutcracker virgin, I wasn't that aware of the story, although I was highly aware of the Tchaikovsky score! (The hefty man next to me gave me a few funny looks as I hummed along!) The opening scene was sweet, the waifs and strays coming on stage acting all coy and shy! Then ripping the curtain down!
The image of the Mrs Dross standing centre stage surrounded by the Orphanage backdrop was breathtaking! Unfortunately the rest of this act wasn’t so amazing! The dancers didn’t inspire much confidence in me, and the choreography lacked that ‘Swan Lake’ pizzazz that kept you on the edge of your seat, constantly wanting more!
The hilariously, camp transformation of the Nutcracker into ‘a real, live boy’ had me in stitches! Thinking it couldn’t possibly get any worse…cue the burly, bare chested men flexing their pecs! The wall cracking transformation was superb and saved some Act 1 bacon! The Frozen Lake may as well have melted, as the story began to drag even more at this point! It really needed more action and definitely some acceleration to an interesting bit!
Quick exit to the bar for an energy refill!
Find my seat, prepare for more of the same!
Thankfully it wasn’t! The choreography became more technically difficult making the dancers look much better, the set stayed just as extravagant and the introduction of new characters was a welcome relief!
I really loved the two cheruby-angely characters who had some great little jumpy sequences together and was impressed by Clara, although she didn’t get much of a chance to show her skills off, through the not so interesting movement she got to perform.
My only criticism(‘s!) would be the (what felt like 20 minute!) licking each other’s bum sequence was completely overdone, my eyes began to cross with amount of pink on stage and as for the end! Blink and I would have missed it! I’ve been assured that the original version doesn’t end quite so abruptly!
I feel like I’ve totally slated the performance, but I would genuinely like to work with Matthew Bourne in the future! Let’s just wait and see what his new production of Edward Scissorhands will bring!
Filed by Article19 at 4:52 PM | 
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