The Nutcracker at Leeds Grand Review: A fantastic retelling of a festive classic

Taking my seat in the Leeds Grand Theatre I am immediately greeted by not only the ornate decor of the theatre itself, but with the intricate work of The Nutcracker’s stage. It seamlessly fits right into the theatre as though it were the Leeds Grand itself that had been built around the show.

I had seen The Nutcracker once before, years ago as a child and it had captured my imagination then. This lead to some concern on my behalf, what if the show wasn’t as good as I remembered it? What if it couldn’t elicit those same feelings that I had? Luckily, with the work of the outstanding cast, orchestra and direction of choreography from David Nixon CBE, this interpretation of the classic ballet not only met, but exceeded all of my expectations. 

For the uninitiated, The Nutcracker is split into two acts. The first of these revolves around the Edwards family preparing for their Christmas party, the guests arrive as Clara, played by Rachael Gillespie, is teased by her brother Frederick, before being stopped by their sister Louise, played by Saeka Shirai. The party gets underway but is halted by the arrival of the eccentric Uncle Drosselmeyer, played by Harry Skoupas, who arrives with gifts from his travels. The choreography of the dancing toys here was genuinely fantastic, their flourishes to the characters (the slow windups, the bounce backs once they had snapped into place) really separated them from the rest of the dancers. Drosselmeyer then presents Clara with the titular Nutcracker doll, Gillespie’s performance during this act, in which she is the main focus, was outstanding. There is a dance with the nutcracker towards the end of the first act that shows this perfectly, not only through her performance, but also through her dancing. The timing, choreography and chemistry that she shares with the Nutcracker Prince, played by Harris Beattie, cannot be praised enough. On this, all of the choreography, even the new additions, should be praised; once again it comes back to the flourishes, no one on the stage is ever static there are little things going on consistently in the background that add to not only the performance but the story. 

Frederick ends up breaking the doll, causing Drosselemeyer to repair it and, after the party, casts some magic onto the doll. Clara then seeks out The Nutcracker and is soon surrounded by huge mice, the smaller mice were played by students from the Northern Ballet’s Centre for Advanced Training Programme. By this point the room has grown and the Nutcracker doll has come to life, the famous battle commences and Drosselemyer reappears, transforming the doll into a prince. Clara and the Nutcracker Prince are then transported into a fairy land of snow. Here the audience is greeted by snow maidens and the aforementioned fantastic dance between Clara and the Nutcracker Prince. The set design, both for the first and second act must be mentioned, Charles Cusick Smith was in charge of this, known for his works on Romeo & Juliet and his works abroad. The pedigree is clear, the land of snow in particular is gorgeous.

The second act is where things are changed slightly, Nixon had re-worked the national dances into five elements during Clara’s dream sequence. In order of appearance they are Fire (Kevin Poeung), Water (Amber Lewis, Miguel Teixeira, Bruno Serraclara), Air (Yu Wakizuka, George Liang), Earth (Antoni Cañellas Artigues, Albert González Orts, Stefano Varalta) and Quintessence (Sena Kitano, Filippo Di Vilio, Julie Nunès). Quintessence in particular interested me, defined as the purest embodiment or essence of something it can be defined in numerous ways. I chose to interpret the fifth element as the quintessence of the magical feeling one had as a child during the Christmas season.

During this sequence, we are also introduced to the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Cavalier (once again played by Saeka Shirai & Jonathan Hanks) who again, share their chemistry on stage and make a strong argument for the best performers of the show. All of this culminates in a huge dance sequence before Clara finds herself awake in the arms of her father, revealing that it was all a dream, except for her Uncle and the Nutcracker Prince watching on as she heads to bed.

As a whole, the show is dripping with elegance, the synchronicity of the dancers paired with the intricacy of the costumes, set design and story make the show a genuine pleasure to watch. This interpretation of the classic ballet was a delight to watch.