Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker Disappoints
Reviewed by Roy Berko
It might come as a shock to some to know that the NUTCRACKER, whose performances have become a worldwide Christmas tradition, was dismissed as “completely insipid,” “corpulent,” and “pudgy” when the ballet was first performed in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1892. Obviously, views have changed!
There was never any question of the quality of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s music, but the story was deemed to be incoherent and hard to follow.
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet is back in Cleveland to present its version of the fantasy story of Clara, a young Canadian girl in this version, and her love affair with a nutcracker prince.
As the fine orchestra played the overture, which highlights the themes of the great score, an outdoor hockey game, snowball fight and the arrival of guests is portrayed.
Yes, it’s the night before Christmas and everything and everyone is stirring, including guests, mice, a giant stuffed bear, a dream of a sugar plum fairy, dancing snowflakes, angels, waltzing flowers, and a nutcracker prince.
The Canadian company puts out full effort, but they fall short on fantasy. All the elements are there — just the dance quality and creative choreography are missing. The usual squeals of delight of the children in the audience, especially the young girls, were not present. The usual Cleveland standing ovation was not garnered. No “bravos” were shouted after the showcase Grand Pas de Deux. This was a rather slow moving, unspectacular, if adequately danced program.
The first act was especially slow moving. There was a lot of walking around and posing. Drosselmeier lost his magic touch and was nothing more than a master of ceremonies. The much anticipated Christmas tree was there, but it was not eye popping and its usually visually entrancing growth was rather unspectacular. The battle between the Nutcracker prince and his soldiers and the Mouse King and his henchmen was boring. Even the cannons didn’t create much of a boom. The highlight was the Dance of the Snowflakes, which was nicely performed with the presence of 50 child locals portraying various parts.
The second act picked up a little with some fine performances by the Pas de Quatre and the Arabian duo. The Sugar Plum Fairy danced adequately well, but did not mesmerize and many of the other specialty dances did not compel attention.
As I sat watching this performance, my mind scrolled back to the days of the Cleveland-San Jose Ballet and Dennis Nahat’s glorious version of the NUTCRACKER which was often performed on the same State Theatre stage. It often starred the luminous Karen Gabay and Raymond Rodriquez, her real life prince. Those were the presentations which elicited the “ohs,” “ahs,” and “bravos.”
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet is an adequate company, but did not display the quality of dancing and creative choreography to make it a world class troupe. The women dancers often didn’t stick point, and sometimes stood at odd angles as they attempted to hold poses. The lead dancers were adequate, but not of the quality that should be expected.
Capsule judgment: Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet lacked the necessary excitement, fantasy and fine dancing to make its NUTCRACKER a compelling evening of dance.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Roy Berko. Berko’s blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 2011, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://RoyBerko.info. His reviews can also be found on NeOHIOpal and CoolCleveland.com.
Roy Berko, who is a life-long Clevelander, is a Renaissance man. Believing the line in Robert Frost’s poem “Road Not Taken,” each time he comes to a fork in the road, he has taken the path less traveled. He holds degrees, thought the doctorate from Kent State, University of Michigan and The Pennsylvania State University. His present roles, besides husband and grandfather, are professor, crisis counselor, author and entertainment reviewer… Read Roy Berko’s complete bio here
2 Responses to “REVIEW: Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker Disappoints”
Tom
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet Nutcracker was excellent. I saw it a few days ago at the State Theater. The large audience liked it very much. Your criticism is excessive.
Cathy
I agree that the audience liked it. My grandsons (4 and 7) enjoyed it a lot – especially the bear (the one really creative touch). That said, the review is right on. Those of us who remember Cleveland Ballet are bound to be greatly disappointed. The dancing is lovely, but safe. The spectacular leaps in the grand pas de deux aren’t there. I thought the staging in the second act was extremely boring. Let’s all sit around in the ballroom while the various styles of dances are done one after another. No sense of journeying through different lands with glorious arrival at the kingdom. Dancing OK, staging boring.