The Nutcracker The Royal New Zealand Ballet, St James, reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant

‘A TALE with a twist’ is the sub-title of this revisit to Garry Harris’ Nutcracker production first seen here in 2005 and restaged as a farewell season as Harris leaves the company after nine years at the helm.
There was as much excitement over the announcement of his successor, American Ethan Stiefel, at the opening of this season as there was about the ballet itself! This is a curious Nutcracker and almost a pantomime version in its caricatures and staging. Humour abounds and the role of Fritz (Paul Russel) was played with almost slapstick energy with Clara genuinely played as a little girl with almost no dancing at all.
Tonia Looker made the most of it, with gloriously articulated feet, but it would have been rewarding to actually see her dance! The leads in this production are the Mother (Clytie Campbell) and Father (Qi Huan) and they carry the key changes to the traditional storyline. Elegant and extreme in their expressions and reactions, they have some lovely movement and will settle more confidently into their partnering sequences as the season progresses. The standout memory from the last time I saw this production was the eccentric ‘Mirlitons’ on crutches and again, these three stole the night. Clever moves, slick technique and great use of the music by Christopher Hinton-Lewis, Dimitri Kleioris and Pierre Doneq brought chuckles to the audience.
Sir Jon Trimmer as the buxom matron of the hospital got into the spirit and played it for laughs and there was magic aplenty in the special effects. The floating bed gave a perfect ‘looking from the outside in’ psychological edge to Clara’s concussion caused by over-active hijinks on Christmas morning. The Nutcracker prince led his soldiers but they tickled with feather dusters and lost something of their military edge and there was no sugar plum fairy! It was a fantasy night at the ballet, and fun, but I missed the virtuosity that comes with classical ballet and the spun sugar magic and soaring lifts that fit so perfectly with Tchaikovsky’s score. The Vector Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Young played well and seemed to be having as good a time in the pit as the dancers on the stage. His Nutcracker is a tribute to Garry Harris’ joy in his role as director of this company which has been, in his own words, an incredibly exciting adventure - his final season provides an equally exciting adventure for the audience.