ENB Nutcracker at London Coliseum Dec 2021-Jan 2022

[San Perregrino]

Bringing this thread back to ballet and the ENB Nutcracker, solid performances all round this afternoon from Natascha Mair as Clara, Daniel McCormick as the Nephew and Henry Dowden as Nutcracker. Noam Durand stood out again in the Russian dance. Sadly the Arabian had been cut. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by prs59

[maryrosesatonapin]

7 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

All the evidence so far is that hospitalisations are not jumping up. So I feel more optimistic than for a while.

Are you serious?

[maryrosesatonapin]

On a possibly cheerier note (if you have constipation) we decided to treat ourselves to some real sugar plums this festive season.  How disappointing that they turned out to be prunes! 

[Lizbie1]

2 minutes ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

Are you serious?

 

More to the point:

 

[bridiem]

32 minutes ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

Are you serious?

 

Yes. The very steep rise in cases is not reflected in a similar rise in hospitalisations. (Let alone hospitalisations for as opposed to with Covid.) And I understand that the 7-day average of deaths has fallen.

 

But this is a thread about ENB Nutcracker, so I apologise for my part in diverting it to less agreeable matters.

[LinMM]

Sorry it’s my fault! 
Just expressing a concern that although Nutcracker is back ...which is good ...It doesn’t necessarily mean that things are going in the right direction for the full ENB programme for January to not necessarily be affected. 
Let’s just hope not. 

[li tai po]

I enjoyed the show this afternoon, but I could not understand the omission of the Arabian Dance - is it a covid cut or a woke cut? 

 

In the finale after the grand pas de deux, the Butterfly and Drosselmeyer came on in place of the Arabian couple.  The Butterfly ran round the wings and came on again a minute later as herself.

[capybara]

4 minutes ago, li tai po said:

I enjoyed the show this afternoon, but I could not understand the omission of the Arabian Dance - is it a covid cut or a woke cut? 

 

In the finale after the grand pas de deux, the Butterfly and Drosselmeyer came on in place of the Arabian couple.  The Butterfly ran round the wings and came on again a minute later as herself.

 

The Arabian dance has been completely re-worked this season and now features 4 female dancers, including 'extras' on occasion.

It would appear that the company's resources couldn't stretch to including this today. 

 

But they got back on stage,  difficulties notwithstanding. Bravo to all.

[bridiem]

ENB Twitter: 

NUTCRACKER UPDATE: Due to a number of positive Covid cases in the company, we are extremely sorry to announce the cancellation of both performances of Nutcracker at the London Coliseum on Thursday 30 December.

Ticket holders will be contacted to arrange credits or refunds. We hope to return to the stage on Friday 31 December. Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

[capybara]

36 minutes ago, bridiem said:

ENB Twitter: 

NUTCRACKER UPDATE: Due to a number of positive Covid cases in the company, we are extremely sorry to announce the cancellation of both performances of Nutcracker at the London Coliseum on Thursday 30 December.

Ticket holders will be contacted to arrange credits or refunds. We hope to return to the stage on Friday 31 December. Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

 

Oh, nooooooooooo .................!!!!!

[Jan McNulty]

45 minutes ago, bridiem said:

ENB Twitter: 

NUTCRACKER UPDATE: Due to a number of positive Covid cases in the company, we are extremely sorry to announce the cancellation of both performances of Nutcracker at the London Coliseum on Thursday 30 December.

Ticket holders will be contacted to arrange credits or refunds. We hope to return to the stage on Friday 31 December. Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

 

This is so very sad.  I feel for all the companies at the moment.

[LinMM]

It looks like Dec 31st has now been cancelled as well 😢

Maybe we should just cancel January and move everything into February lol!! 

[bridiem]

Yes, ENB Twitter has confirmed 31st Dec also cancelled. So sad for everyone.

[alison]

I'm starting to think the RB cancelling 2 weeks' worth all in one go may have been a better move  

[Lizbie1]

I was thinking it would have been better to send the entire (non-vulnerable!) company away together for two weeks so they could all catch it and recover.

[capybara]

28 minutes ago, alison said:

I'm starting to think the RB cancelling 2 weeks' worth all in one go may have been a better move  

 

Yes, but ENB is SO VERY reliant on the income from The Nutcracker to remain financially viable.

[Guest oncnp]

8 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

Yes, but ENB is SO VERY reliant on the income from The Nutcracker to remain financially viable.

 

But do they not risk alienating their audiences with such late cancellations?  Esp given how difficult travel seems to be at the moment? 

[capybara]

15 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

But do they not risk alienating their audiences with such late cancellations?  Esp given how difficult travel seems to be at the moment? 

It looks as if, in making the decision now to cancel tomorrow’s shows, they have taken heed of the audiences’ responses on social media i.e “Please let us know before we commit to travelling to London.”

[LinMM]

If ENB have to cancel entire performances do they still have to pay for the use of the Coli on those days? 

[capybara]

1 minute ago, LinMM said:

If ENB have to cancel entire performances do they still have to pay for the use of the Coli on those days? 

Yes, I believe so - unless the venue itself cancels. After all, ENB is ‘in residence’. 
Maybe (speculation alert) the terms and conditions in the contract were adjusted in the light of COVID and last year’s experience. But who knows?

[Don Q Fan]

I read one poor soul was en route from Manchester when ENB announced the show was cancelled needless to say there were not very pleased but fair play to ENB they asked said  person to contact them "to discuss" so maybe they sorted something out with them.

 

I really hope to see Raymonda near the end of its run.  Time will tell. 

[SplitSoul]

We were booked for the matinee today. Gutted it's not going ahead. Really feel for the company and dancers. 

[bridiem]

ENB Twitter: 

NUTCRACKER UPDATE: we are very sorry that the performance of Nutcracker on Sunday 2 January at

@LondonColiseum has also been cancelled. Ticket holders will be contacted directly to arrange refunds or credits.

We will provide an update on next week's performances as soon as possible. Thank you as ever for your support and understanding.

[capybara]

48 minutes ago, bridiem said:

ENB Twitter: 

NUTCRACKER UPDATE: we are very sorry that the performance of Nutcracker on Sunday 2 January at

@LondonColiseum has also been cancelled. Ticket holders will be contacted directly to arrange refunds or credits.

We will provide an update on next week's performances as soon as possible. Thank you as ever for your support and understanding.

I was hoping that cancellations on the 30th and 31st December together with the scheduled break today would help ENB to sort things out.

 

Despite the apparent relaxation of rules to permit people who test negatively on days 6 and 7 after a positive result to come out of quarantine, it appears that many are having positive readings until day 10 and beyond. So, very difficult for companies to plan.

[bridiem]

ENB Twitter: 

We are pleased to announce that the two performances of Nutcracker on Tuesday 4 January at the London Coliseum (at 2.30pm and 7.30pm) will be going ahead. We look forward to welcoming audience members to the theatre!

We will provide an update on future performances as soon as possible. Thank you as ever for your support and understanding.

[Irmgard]

Last week was a bit of a disaster for me when the shows I was hoping to watch on the 28^th were cancelled so I rearranged for the 30^th, only to have those cancelled as well.  I was therefore absolutely delighted when ENB announced that performances would resume on 4 January and I managed to attend the evening show.  There were inevitable cast changes but there was a real buzz about the performance, helped by the energising playing of the orchestra under the baton of Maestro Gavin Sutherland, back from his guest appearances with Munich Ballet.

 

Stina Quagebeur showed once again what a gracious and elegant hostess she is in the party scene and Amelia Clark charmed me once more as the young Clara.  It was such a pleasure to see Alison McWhinney for the first time this season as Louise, accompanied by a particularly graceful set of friends, lyrical and elegant in her little pas de deux with suitor William Simmons, and then all delicacy in the Mirlitons dance partnered by the wonderfully benevolent Drosselmeyer of Fabian Reimair. She did double duty as an enchanting lead snowflake with Precious Adams, with that wonderfully engaging smile of hers enveloping the auditorium.  The rest of the snowflakes were also on particularly sparkling form.  A word of praise and appreciation for the sassy army of mice, being a mixture of company members and students, some particularly petite, who have made the battle scene particularly entertaining each time I have seen it.  The Mouse King of Alexander Nuttall, whom I also saw at a previous performance, has developed a very cheeky, almost nonchalant personality reminiscent of the much-missed Shevelle Dynott.  As Nuttall is not listed on the company’s website, I am not sure if he is a new recruit to the company or still a freelance dancer but he is a very welcome addition to the roster of memorable Mouse Kings. 

 

Although I heard murmurs of appreciation from the people sitting directly behind me, especially for Mirlitons and the solos in the grand pas de deux, it was difficult to gauge the audience as there seemed to be only polite applause at the end of each number in Act II but thankfully there was a huge ovation at the end of the pas de deux and a tumultuous reception for the whole company during their curtain calls.  It was strange that the divertissements did not garner more applause at the time because they were given particularly lively performances, especially Anjuli Hudson, Adriana Lizardi and Fernando Carratalá Coloma bringing great panache to the Spanish Dance and Noam Durand an absolute firecracker in the reduced version of the Russian Dance (the Arabian Dance was omitted at this performance).  The Waltz of the Flowers is a glorious piece of choreography to even more glorious music (especially at this performance with Sutherland to galvanise everyone) and was led by the vivacious Emily Suzuki whose effortless style is a joy to behold.  She was well matched by Rebecca Blenkinsop (replacing Tiffany Hedman) who always catches my eye with the elegance and beauty of her dancing.  Their cavaliers, Victor Prigent and Henry Dowden, partnered attentively and showed their own stylish technique in their solo dancing.

 

Of the three leads, only Aitor Arrieta as the Nephew/Prince remained from the originally advertised cast, with Erik Woolhouse replacing Junor Souza as the Nutcracker and Katja Khaniukova replacing Emma Hawes as Clara/Sugar Plum Fairy.  I have written about this trio’s previous performance but I would say that the pas de deux between Clara and the wounded Nutcracker was given an extra poignancy by the impassioned rendition from the orchestra of what is my favourite piece of music in the ballet, drawing infinite tenderness from Khaniukova towards Woolhouse, who partnered her effortlessly, especially in the Act II pas de trois with Drosselmeyer in which Khaniukova was totally enchanting.  Her radiant smile and excitement when the balloon landed made one believe they really had arrived in a wonderland instead of the rather drab giant puppet theatre which was all that the budget given to Eagling for his production allowed.   Apart from his appearance in the party scene in Act I, where he was charm personified, and brief moments at the end of Act I and the beginning of Act II, we have to wait for the last twenty minutes of the ballet to enjoy Arrieta’s supremely elegant dancing and partnering in the grand pas de deux.  With a slightly more upbeat tempo for his solo than previously, Arrieta’s diagonal of cabrioles was even more impressive, as was the height of his double tours at the beginning of the solo, with beautifully stretched feet and legs, and wondrously soft, clean landings from all his jumps. Likewise, Khaniukova benefitted from a slightly more magical rendition of the Sugar Plum Fairy music, highlighting her delicious, delicate footwork, particularly her bourrées backwards in which her feet were a blur, and her exquisite ports de bras and upper body movements.  In the adage and coda, Arrieta and Khaniukova were perfectly matched in style and temperament, imbuing Eagling’s challenging version of this beloved pas de deux with that rare majesty I previously described, even during the fireworks of the coda which were done with the finesse I have come to expect from these consummate artists.   

[CCL]

Francesca Velicu and Isaac Hernandez made a lovely partnership last night. Their grand pas de deux was swooningly romantic and reduced me to a soggy mess. I was relieved and grateful to be able to see the production after the original performance I’d booked had to be cancelled. I’m not usually in a Nutcracker mood in January, but last night’s performance was truly delightful.

[capybara]

16 minutes ago, CCL said:

Francesca Velicu and Isaac Hernandez made a lovely partnership last night. Their grand pas de deux was swooningly romantic and reduced me to a soggy mess. I was relieved and grateful to be able to see the production after the original performance I’d booked had to be cancelled. I’m not usually in a Nutcracker mood in January, but last night’s performance was truly delightful.

 

Completely agree and Velicu is a First Artist (still).

[CCL]

17 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

Completely agree and Velicu is a First Artist (still).

Yes, I find that amazing- she was very assured and gave a lovely, nuanced performance 

[Emeralds]

Maria Kochetkova was such a wonderful Clara/Sugar Plum at the performance we attended- and we were so, so thrilled and relieved that it was one where they had enough recovered/quarantined/well dancers and staff to put it on. Her Nephew/Prince and Nutcracker were Jeffrey Cirio and Fernando Carratala Coloma, and both were brilliant. Am surprised Fernando is still an Artist- he deserves a promotion soon. His dancing of the Abdur solo on their Facebook page is excellent too. I will be sad not to see Maria dancing the rest of the season with ENB. Hope she returns to dance in London again in future - any company and any ballet will do!