The Nutcracker on Ice: any thoughts?

[aileen]

I think that I can just about squeeze this into the general discussions section of the forum.

 

Has anyone seen this? I believe that there have been performances before, but perhaps not at the Albert Hall. Is it accompanied by a live orchestra? Is it good or a bit tacky? I'm always looking for something different for a family Christmas outing as the rest of the family is a bit fed up of The Nutcracker the ballet.

[Jan McNulty]

I haven't seen the Nutcracker on Ice but in previous years I have seen Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake and found them both very enjoyable.

[LinMM]

Same here not seen this one but have seen a few of their other ones at the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne.

I was going to see if they are taking this to Eastbourne this year before booking as think it would be better value for money than at the Albert Hall which is somewhat larger!!

I've never known them to have live music .....it's usually recorded and a tad too loud for my liking ....but the shows are good and worth seeing. Whether they would have live music in London I don't know.

You could always kill two birds with one stone if they are going to Eastbourne and have a show and a bit of sea and beach (daren't say sun as well) thrown in and Eastbourne sea front is very pleasant to stroll (or speed walk/run) along. The theatre is very close to the sea you can see it from the bar upstairs!

 

I haven't been to the Albert Hall in years since I saw Shirley Bassey perform there. It was a bit of a distant view but in Dame Shirley's case she certainly reached the far flung corners of the hall.....wonderful.

For this show however not sure what the prices would be for a better view etc

[alison]

I haven't seen any of the "On Ice" productions for at least a decade, and the last ones I saw were in the unforgiving surroundings of Croydon's Fairfield Halls, which is a completely different kettle of fish from the RAH - it would have been on the "concert stage", which is a lot smaller than the RAH arena, which I assume they are using.  The last one I saw was either Sleeping Beauty or Swan Lake, I think - it was quite balletic (but I think back then they may have had a ballet-trained skater or something) and I enjoyed it.  However, that *was* a long time ago.  If they're using the arena, in full ice-show mode, I'd imagine the production would need "plumping out" rather - but it may be that they'll use the stage area, in which case you might well need binoculars.

 

You could always ring the RAH and enquire about live music - but I suspect it won't be.