REVIEWS REVIEWS
York got a rare taste of ballet when Ellen Kent brought the Nutcracker to the Grand Opera House and filled the theatre to overflowing. It is strange that a county with ballet and opera companies based within its boundaries sees very little of them outside its designated main cities. However, Ballet International brought the Chisinau National Ballet to the city with a colourful presentation of E T A Hoffman’s story of magic at Christmas and pleased a mixed audience with dance provided by Yuri Grigorovich’s adaptation of the story set to Tchaikovsky’s delightful music.
The tale starts with a party where gifts are distributed to the children. Clara known as Maria is fascinated with her gift of a Nutcracker given to her by her godfather Councillor Drosselmeyer and later when she should be in bed she creeps downstairs to see her new toy again, eventually falling asleep beneath the Christmas tree. Magical things then start to happen as all the toys come to life. Maria, danced by Nadezhda Schepachiova, has an encounter with the Nutcracker who turns into a prince, danced by the dinky Egor Schepachiov. This gives the two dancers the opportunity to show their talent and delight the audience with their interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s music. The audience was entranced by a red nutcracker doll played by Didina Grosu who is carried on and off the stage and shows what can be achieved with imagination. Multi national dolls have their chance to dance and the appreciative audience showed their pleasure with rapturous applause; facial make up would have made these dolls more in keeping with their part, and the lamb and the trident candelabra would have been best left back stage, thereby allowing the dancers to show their dancing skills. Under the baton of Svetlana Popova the orchestra gave what was required of them to bring Tchaikovsky’s music alive. The colourful costumes were a credit to their designers and the wardrobe mistress. Scenery could have been more spectacular, but did what was asked of it. The souvenir program designed by David Grady and Wendy Lomas was packed with information, but suffered from over design which made it virtually impossible to read in the subdued lighting of a theatre auditorium.
Typical Chisinau characteristics showed through the ballet which had the traditional feel of a Bolshoi theatre ballet, and allowed a brilliant night at the theatre to be had by all. The talk as the audience left the theatre was when could they again go to see ballet in York. Lets hope it will not be too long. © BA
“Nutcracker” is in York on the 10th and 11th January, 2003 and then continues an extensive tour of Britain.
Is there an Air Conditioning certificate prominently displayed in your theatre foyer stating the date of manufacture of the appliance and when the system was last inspected and serviced - if not, complain to the theatre management.
