THE NUTCRACKER

Relying on whimsy, prettiness and sweets in favour of anything meaty, The Nutcracker has never been the most challenging ballet for audiences. Straddling the borders of animate and inanimate, real and fantasy, it tells a sugary domestic tale of a little girl in a white dress who is dazzled by a magician and all her new toys on Christmas Eve. The montage of cartoonish scenes – including dancing with snowflakes, visiting the Land of Sweets and being entertained by Sugar Plum Fairies – is played out with unapologetically scarce development of character or plot.

While Tchaikovsky publicly declared his contempt for his Rococo-inspired score, it has of course become not only his most famous but one of the most well-known of any score in the history of ballet. This production was originally created for the Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1990 by Sir Peter Wright, and was performed once before by The Australian Ballet in 1997. It returns in 2010 just time for Christmas with John F. Macfarlane’s original re-creations of the design.

There are some exquisite costumes but the set is distractingly ugly and amateur-looking: we tried to partially shield our eyes from the suspended mess of images in the second act, so as to watch the dancers, who are overall excitingly precise and a joy to be in the presence of. Standout performances come from Amber Scott as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Matthew Donnelly as the magician Drosselmeer, and there’s a wonderfully creepy and zestful Jack-in-the-Box performed by Luke Marchant. The Australian Ballet is evidently in top form but this production lacks the strength and charm of the company’s other recent productions.

Until Dec 22, Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House, $29-160, 1300 369 741, australianballet.com.au

BY ERIC WOOLF