This year has been a year full of very difficult times, especially for the arts. Theatres have had to close their doors and dancers have hung their shoes up. But with thanks to Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham Repertory Theatre and The Linbury Trust, The Nutcracker has continued and tonight it was live streamed to a very happy audience at home.
This 2020 production is dedicated to the incredibly talented Marion Tait who has spent 52 years with Birmingham Royal Ballet and has stepped down from her role as Assistant Director.
The production starts with a brand new opening scene (that immediately made us all laugh) with thanks to new BRB director Carlos Acosta and his updated take on The Nutcracker. If you’re a regular to The Nutcracker, don’t let the mention of a new opening worry you, The Nutcracker remains intact and is still its phenomenal self, just with added extras and slightly shorter scenes in parts. Carlos has been careful to keep (and even add to) the magic of the show and has used what he can from the main production that is usually performed at Birmingham Hippodrome and has transported where possible, parts to the smaller stage of The Birmingham Repertory theatre where tonights performance was live streamed.
Along with downsizing the stage, came a downsizing (height wise) of the rats who were played by incredibly talented children from Elmshurst Ballet School in Birmingham. I enjoyed the comedy factor in the second half when the toy soldiers picked up and carried away the rats and you could see their little legs wiggling away.
Watching the performance live streamed on the TV had positives that I wouldn’t have considered before – close ups where you can see detail that you just can’t possibly see when sat in the theatre audience. Such as the music box filled with new shoes that gets passed to Clara and the delicate foot work and hand movements. I did wonder how magic, the magic tricks would look close up, but they worked brilliantly and my daughters were both amazed with them (I don’t want to spoil the surprise if you haven’t seen it, so won’t mention the particular one which got an almighty WOW from my 4 year old). It was also nice to see the dancers faces close up. As a regular to the ballet, you learn to identify the dancers by their style but often haven’t seen close ups of faces. It was lovely to match ballet styles to faces.
With close ups, comes little room for mistakes but there’s no need to worry on this front as the dancers gave an absolutely flawless performance.
Obviously there are going to be some downsides to not being sat in the theatre and for me, there were just two. Which in turn, I hope bring you to see The Nutcracker in person next year to be able to get the full experience.
The first, I missed the atmosphere of a live audience; hearing everyone’s clapping and love for the performance, gasps at magic tricks (Jonathan Payn), giggles at Tzu-Chao Chou as a Jack in the Box dancing around the stage and the complete and utter silence when a beautiful pas de deux takes place (Momoko Hirata and César Morales) and the exquisite performance from Karla Doorbar as Clara. Secondly although the music is played beautifully and is so nice to hear, nothing beats (for me as an ex violinist) hearing it in the same venue that it is being played. It just has a slightly different feel for me.
That aside, I absolutely loved the performance.
To be able to, on a cold, wet, December evening, sit in front of my fire and watch one of my most favourite ballets, performed by the most talented ballet dancers, live on my TV screen is just, well, it’s magical.
The performance will be bringing magic and happiness into so many peoples front rooms. So many people who might not have had the chance to go and watch this show in person, now have the chance to watch it from their own homes. For me, that’s a positive from 2020.
If you would like to purchase a ticket to watch the performance at home, you can do so here : https://www.brb.org.uk/whats-on/event/the-nutcracker-at-the-rep-online
You can watch on demand from Saturday 19 December at 7.30pm through until midnight on Christmas Eve. Tickets cost just £15 and once downloaded, can be viewed for 3 days. Please note booking closes at midnight on Monday 21 December. If you’re still unsure on a Christmas present for a family, why not gift them a family showing of The Nutcracker this Christmas.
Disclaimer: We were gifted a ticket to watch the live performance at home. All thoughts and opinions are entirely our own.