English National Ballet: The Nutcracker, Winter 2013/14

[capybara]

I'm surprised the Coli was far from full: it looked pretty well sold when I had a look a couple of days previously.

 

Yes, for example, all the seats in the Stalls were shown as taken on line except for single ones at each side. But, in actuality, much of the sides, including the front row there, was empty and we could take our pick of where to sit in our row. A further factor appeared to be that some patrons had availed themselves of hospitality involving the receipt of a red 'goody bag' and a number of these guests did not return to their seats after the interval. How could anyone miss the opportunity to see two of the very finest ballet dancers in the world dancing a famous pas de deux sublimely?!

[alison]

Because they don't know, or care?

[Fonty]

Because it is not the Opera House, darling, and only second rate companies perform ballet elsewhere!

[alison]

ENB have got themselves to blame for empty seats, on Tuesday nearly the whole back central row of the dress circle was empty, I used to be able to sit in these for £40 but this season they are £55, hence the cut-price offers, I got a side seat for £40, seems like others did too.

 

And are they seriously charging anything up to £29 to sit on those uncomfortable bench seats in the balcony?  That's what the website indicates for the "Gold" dates.

 

Yes, for example, all the seats in the Stalls were shown as taken on line except for single ones at each side. But, in actuality, much of the sides, including the front row there, was empty and we could take our pick of where to sit in our row.

 

Looking at how well seats appear to have be selling to judge from the ENO website, I'm wondering if blocks of tickets have actually been passed over to various ticket agencies to sell, and therefore show up as unavailable on the website.

 

Oh, and can I just say how irritating I find the "with photos" view on the casting list on the ENB website?  Trying to compare casting for various dates is doing my head in because I can get so few dates on the screen at any one time.  Another time, perhaps they can have a "without photos" version as well, for those people who are more interested in who's dancing than what they look like.

[capybara]

Because it is not the Opera House, darling, and only second rate companies perform ballet elsewhere!

 

Just goes to show how difficult it is for ENB and other top notch companies to break into the public conscience (and, probably, what a waste of money those free drinks and goody bags are).

 

I don't think that there is another company anywhere which can field ballerinas of the quality of Daria Klimentova, Elena Glurdjidze, Alina Cojocaru and Tamara Rojo, with the added pleasure of Vadim Muntagirov, in the space of just three days. Yet, still, audiences aren't exactly flocking in.

[billboyd]

Perhaps, it is the production?

[alison]

Let's face it, I'd guess that a large proportion of ENB's Nutcracker audience don't actually know who the dancers are, and don't care.  They just want to see The Nutcracker.

[Fonty]

I don't think that there is another company anywhere which can field ballerinas of the quality of Daria Klimentova, Elena Glurdjidze, Alina Cojocaru and Tamara Rojo, with the added pleasure of Vadim Muntagirov, in the space of just three days. Yet, still, audiences aren't exactly flocking in.

 

Shocking, really.  But we are frequent ballet goers, with the knowledge that these are world class dancers.  I am guessing that the average audience for the Nutcracker are people who go once a year. 

 

I think there is still this perception amongst that group that ENB is somehow a lesser company, simply because it is not the Royal.

 

Plus there does seem to be an overdose of Nutcrackers at Christmas.  I appreciate it is appropriate for the season, but I can't be the only frequent ballet goer who would prefer to see something else.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Fonty

[aileen]

There is only so much Nutcracker that will sell. ENB has 38 performances and the RB has around 28. BRB also put it on this year (some years the company has done Cinderella instead). As others have said, most Nutcracker-goers do not know or care who the dancers are. ENB'S performances seem to be selling much less well this year, which is probably to do with the increased number of RB performances rather than the mixed critical response to the production. I saw the Hampson one. It would not have appealed to the traditionalists but it did have the virtue of being distinctively different from the RB's and had some really witty and charming costumes and sets. Still, all that's in the past and I doubt that Tamara will commission another Nutcracker for another five years at least. Part of ENB's problem is that it just does not have the same amount of money as the RB and BRB have for costumes and sets as it is a large company with a much smaller ACE grant; it's never going to be able to compete with the RB in this respect (I actually find it quite annoying when I see the money which the RB has lavished on some of the sets and 'props' recently: remember Metamorphosis - will that ever see the light of day again - and Aeternum?).

 

One other thing: on ENB's website only a certain number of performances are listed (although it does say that there are 38 performances at the top but this is easy to overlook) and the scroll down function is not obvious (to me at least).Note to website designers: test-drive the layout and functions with some people who are not intimately acquainted with the company to see how easily they can navigate the site.

[Bruce Wall]

 I actually find it quite annoying when I see the money which the RB has lavished on some of the sets and 'props' recently: remember Metamorphosis - will that ever see the light of day again - and Aeternum?).

 

 

 

As was reported on the Balletcoforum pages the other day, the Royal Ballet are doing Aeternum during their 2015 US tour package programme (Chicago, Washington, DC and NYC).

[Timmie]

So so beautiful, that’s what I’ve come away with from the ENB The Nutcracker.

 

The opening scene in the young Clara’s bedroom, the ice skating outside the house, the children dancing, the battle and the departure to the kingdom of sweets in the balloon all very nicely done. For me though, good as the first part of the first act is, this is just the warm-up for the best bits which are still to come.

 

The most beautiful single moment was the Snowflakes. The Lead Snowflakes, Shiori Kase and Senri Kou, doing their lovely sequence under the falling snow and then unexpectedly (because I’d forgotten what was coming next) angelic voices joining in from the choir of children which had appeared in one of the boxes on the left, I really didn’t know which way to look.

 

The other big highlight for me was the Waltz of the Flowers leading straight into the Sugar Plum pas de deux. Ah, Tamara Rojo (my equal* favourite ballerina) and Junor Souza, absolutely glorious pas de deux, variations and coda. The only sad bit at this point is that I now know the ballet is drawing to a conclusion. 

 

I enjoyed the curtain calls, from second row in the stalls, dead centre, I could see the real joy on the faces of the young Clara and Freddie and the big smiles from Miss Rojo at a role well danced and a job (artistic director) well done. I wish all the other young dancers and the choir could have appeared for their applause but I guess they were well on their way home to bed!

 

*Marianela Nunez is the other, by the way.

[Timmie]

And just to add, if you like the Wayne Eagling choreography of The Nutcracker and you like watching on Blu Ray then the Amsterdam Opera House Nutcracker with Matthew Golding is only £8.55 on Amazon which is an amazing price for a ballet Blu Ray. The production is a bit different from the ENB one with different character actors but from memory the dancing is the same.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Timmie

[Coated]

I don't think they need to make enormously costly changes to improve the production until they can develop a new Nutcracker (the sooner the better - the ENB dancers deserve a production to match their beautiful performances)

 

Dropping parts of the Arabian dance and the random reappearances of mice, replace with padding elsewhere. In the worst of all cases, just have them skate for longer. Throw in a pdd, there is room for one in act 2. (Well, that's what I was fervently wishing for when I watched the marvellous Mr Muntagirov and Ms Cojocaru literally walking on stage and straight off again early in act 2. If I can't see them dance, don't walk them across the stage just to tease me.)

[Fonty]

Does anyone remember the ENB Nutcracker where the corps were dressed as Liquorice Allsorts in the second act?  I must have enjoyed that version, it was a long time ago and the costumes still stick in my mind. 

Edited December 14, 2013 by Fonty

[aileen]

I believe that that was the Hampson one, which was the production which preceded the current one. I too remember those costumes (I think that I have seen a photograph of Shiori Kase wearing one). The set in the second act was very pretty.

[Fonty]

Was it really?  They must have kept that production for a long time, because it was years ago when I saw it. 

 

I can't remember the first act at all, although that doesn't surprise me.  After about 30 years of Nutcracker watching, I would probably only remember it if the production did something spectacularly different - Clara vanishing in a puff of smoke after receiving the Nutcracker, never to be seen again, or the party guests turning into vampires. 

[chrischris]

I think the 'Royal' prefix is often perceieved as being an indication of quality or prestige, in the UK at least, so I think if I was planning my one trip of the year to to the ballet i'd just assume the RB was the better company, in the same way i'd assume that an English College of Surgeons wasn't as prestigious as the Royal College of Surgeons etc etc. Also agree that there are a lot of Nutcrackers this year. Too many possibly.

[Amelia]

Does anyone remember the ENB Nutcracker where the corps were dressed as Liquorice Allsorts in the second act? 

 

 

I remember it was Matthew Bourne's version of The Nutcracker where the Spanish Dance was performed by a trio of Liquorice Allsorts:

 

http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=_LisUpXVNM_Q7AaVw4AY&ved=0CC8QsAQ&biw=1180&bih=651&q=matthew%20bourne%20Liquorice%20Allsorts

[aileen]

I have found the photograph which I mentioned above on the Ballet News website. It shows Shiori wearing a white 'pancake' tutu with black swirls on it. This is what I assumed Fonty was referring to. Didn't the Hampson production also have dancing 'boxes' as well. It had dancers (were they supposed to be icicles?) leaping out of a giant fridge. What I don't like in any production of The Nutcracker or other classical ballet is lecherous grandfathers chasing after young women! Sorry if that's ageist.

[Nina G.]

Shocking, really.  But we are frequent ballet goers, with the knowledge that these are world class dancers.  I am guessing that the average audience for the Nutcracker are people who go once a year. 

 

I think there is still this perception amongst that group that ENB is somehow a lesser company, simply because it is not the Royal.

 

Plus there does seem to be an overdose of Nutcrackers at Christmas.  I appreciate it is appropriate for the season, but I can't be the only frequent ballet goer who would prefer to see something else.

Well, The Royal Ballet offer an alternative to their Nutcracker and is performing "Jewels" over the Christmas period. They have also shown "Les Patineurs", "Tales of Beatrix Potter",.. in the past years. 

Edited December 14, 2013 by Nina G.

[Nina G.]

Just goes to show how difficult it is for ENB and other top notch companies to break into the public conscience (and, probably, what a waste of money those free drinks and goody bags are).

 

I don't think that there is another company anywhere which can field ballerinas of the quality of Daria Klimentova, Elena Glurdjidze, Alina Cojocaru and Tamara Rojo, with the added pleasure of Vadim Muntagirov, in the space of just three days. Yet, still, audiences aren't exactly flocking in.

It is difficult to break the public conscience.Take a tourist who is visiting London for the festive season, and also wants to see a ballet.They go and watch The Royal Ballet because it is at the Royal Opera House and this adds to the whole experience. The Coliseum is a beautiful theatre but the tourist/visitor will have heard of/prefers to go to the ROH, it has much more prestige. 

[alison]

Does anyone remember the ENB Nutcracker where the corps were dressed as Liquorice Allsorts in the second act?  I must have enjoyed that version, it was a long time ago and the costumes still stick in my mind. 

 

That would have been the Deane version, very chic costumes and I think everybody loved them - I certainly did.  And a nice tie-in with Bassetts, too

 

There is only so much Nutcracker that will sell. ENB has 38 performances and the RB has around 28. BRB also put it on this year (some years the company has done Cinderella instead). As others have said, most Nutcracker-goers do not know or care who the dancers are. ENB'S performances seem to be selling much less well this year, which is probably to do with the increased number of RB performances rather than the mixed critical response to the production.

 

I don't think so: I think a) the RB would probably be pushed to sell out 38 performances - they're generally pretty canny about how many performances of any production they can sell - and it's the law of diminishing returns.  I've watched the last 3 productions and seen how audiences have tended to tail away somewhat in all 3 of them.  Unfortunately, it seems to be a reflection on the type of Nutcracker audiences ENB attract: they'll go and see it once, then that's been ticked off the list and perhaps next year they'll go and see The Snowman, or Slava's Snow Show, or whatever.  I mean, why on earth would they go back and see something twice?   They'll probably go when there's another new production, but not before that.

 

I also wonder if the differential pricing has had an effect this year: I was really surprised to see that the highest prices are between Christmas and New Year, which in the past have a) tended not to sell as well, it seems to me, and been generally more lowly cast (not this year), because people either tend to be away or tend to be with family for a few days.  A random look at a few of those dates indicates that there are more seats available than at the beginning of the run.

[alison]

Oops, got caught by the dreaded "b+)" effect myself there

[aileen]

Perhaps it's an unanswerable question, but I wonder which of the ten ENB Nutcrackers is the best critically (audiences and professional dance critics) and commercially. What was the earliest one like?

[capybara]

Back to the present and another lustrous performance this afternoon from Daria Klimentova and Vadim Muntagirov with excellent support from Junor Souza (Nutcracker), Ksenia Ovsyanick (Louise/Mirlitons), and Ken Saruhashi (RUssian).

 

This seems to be the Company's hardest week of the season: they are dancing 12 shows on the trot and the work rate is therefore phenomenal. Take Arionel Vargas, as but one example. Although he is a Principal, he was on this afternoon in the party scene and Arabian dance, is the Nephew/Prince tonight, and says he has either those same roles or Drosselmayer throughout the week.

[toursenlair]

Does anyone remember the ENB Nutcracker where the corps were dressed as Liquorice Allsorts in the second act?  I must have enjoyed that version, it was a long time ago and the costumes still stick in my mind. 

That was the Derek Deane production, premiered in 1997 I believe. All the costumes were very inventive, but it dated fast because, for one thing, one of the dancing dolls in the first act (which was set in a contemporary Mayfair house as I recall) was a Michael Jackson doll.

[alison]

I note that the Coliseum seems to have released front balcony seats for sale online for various Nutcracker performances.  These are the seats they always claim they can't sell online because they have to speak to people and tell them how bad the viewing restrictions/legroom are

[aileen]

 I saw the Daria/Vadim/Junor cast on Thursday and the Kase/Acosta/Young one today. Daria and Vadim were luminous together and it's nice to see that Daria can still teach supremely talented youngsters such as Shiori (who was marvellously good) a thing or two. Yonah's partnering was very good but, surprisingly, his solo in the grand pdd was a little untidy. I was impressed with both Junor and Nathan's dancing, in that unwieldy mask. I feel that Nathan's dancing and partnering has improved a lot. Both Claras seemed to be younger this year and were more child-like in the character, but, knowing what I do about very young teenage girls, it is not illogical that a younger Clara would have a crush on a handsome young man. I feel that Wayne Eagling has attempted to create a more mysterious and less cosy Nutcracker and I found the Clara/Nutcracker pdd and the pas de trois with Drosselmeyer very affecting. The programme is very nice this year. It has interviews with all the Clara-SPFs who talk about their experiences of dancing in The Nutcracker (some only saw or danced in the Nutcracker after they joined companies or schools in the UK; there seems to be no tradition of it in Spain or Brazil, for example). There is also a potted history of ENB's (10) productions of the ballet as well as some lovely photographs.

[gdallas]

We had a family treat and saw Cojocaru and Muntagirov from box U last night which was great in unexpected ways. Fabulous to hear the orchestra so well - we were right above the pit. And to be so close to the dancers was wonderful. But we lost about 30% of the stage and couldn't see the Christmas tree at all.....some amazing glimpses I'm to the wings including the Sugar Plum Fairy high fiving as she exited......

[alison]

Is that one of the stage boxes?  I sat there for Rambert's 60th? anniversary performances, having been told it was a good view, but lost a very sizeable proportion of the stage.

[Terpsichore]

I also saw Klimentova and Muntagirov on the 11 December and enjoyed it very much.

 

Here are my thoughts on the performance http://jelterps.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/cracking.html

 

I have lost count of the number of times I have seen ENB (or Festival as we used to call it) perform this work. Nobody does it than ENB IMHO though I prefer some of their earlier versions.

[Minder]

I saw two of the younger casts last week - Shiori Kase/Yonah Acosta on 17th and Laurretta Summerscales/James Forbat on 19th. Both performances were very good and satisfying although very different Clara's.

 

Shiori has an exceptionally good technique. She can hold balances and make it look easy with no advance preparations, she seems to be able to go backwards and stop almost off balance in the solo (sorry don't know what that's called) and she can spin like few others. It was a case of you've seen singles and doubles, I can do a triple in the middle and if you think that's good I'll finish with a quadruple - a few gasps in the Balcony. Yonah is a very good partner.

 

Laurretta is more elegant and classical and she has an ability to project to the whole audience. I went to the class at Milton Keynes before the Corsaire, she was at the front and seemed to be practicing eye contact to the top of the theatre. 

 

Finally some praise for Anton Lukovkin as the Mouse King - gave the nutcrackers a good run for their money.

 

 

[KathyG]

I'm not very good at reviewing things but as it was thanks to Stirrups36 on this forum we got to go this evening I thought I should leave a comment how ever small.

 

We had an unexpected trip to see ENB Nutcracker this evening, I had one excited DS especially once he discovered it was Tamara dancing Clara.  We throughly enjoyed the performance especially Nancy Osbaldeston in the Chinese and Lauretta Summerscales in Mirilitons though it was strange for us as we know RB's Nutcracker very well and some of the dances were dealt with quite differently.  When Tamara came on in her tutu the smile on DS face grew and she was absolutely amazing, her Prince Matthew Golding was equally good though DS had a gasp on her first jump onto his shoulder as he thought she wasn't quite there but those of us who don't know about these things didn't notice.

 

The tree doesn't grow as spectacularly as RB but the balloon ride is a lovely touch, the battle scene isn't quite as good as RB but the ENB rats are much better.  I feel that the ENB Nutcracker is a much lighter performance and the time flew by and for us a quick exit at the end of the performance a bonus.  The auditorium in the dress circle had a lot of empty seats which for a Boxing Day performance we found strange, we're off to Panto tomorrow and it will be interesting to see how many empty seats there are there.

 

If the same opportunity came up again I would definitely go and see ENB again as this was a very enjoyable performance for us and I have one very happy DS.  On a personal note many thanks to Grandad who drove us up and waited to bring us home again at very short notice.