Moscow City Ballet : The Nutcracker – Festival Theatre, Chichester
Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Director: Victor Smirnov-Golovanov
Choreographers: Victor Smirnov-Golovanov, Lyudmila Nerubashenko
Conductor: Igor Shavruk
Reviewer: Gina Skillings
The Public Reviews Rating: 
Founded by former Bolshoi Ballet soloist and choreographer Victor Smirnov-Golovanov, for the past 20 years Moscow City Ballet has been one of Russia’s most successful touring companies and is accompanied by a live orchestra.
In the first act we are transported to the Chritmas Eve party of the Silbergaus household’s children, Fritz and Clara. The Christmas tree lights twinkle and the children are playing, eagerly awaiting the gifts that will be handed out by Clara’s Godfather, Drosselmeyer. Not only does he bring the children a small gift each – he also produces three mechanical toys, a Doll, a Nutcracker and a Mouse King, which he brings magically to life. The Mouse King and Nutcracker fight for the right to dance with the Doll, and Fritz challenges the Nutcracker to a duel which to Clara’s dismay results in the Nutcracker being wounded. Later that night Clara wakes to find the Mouse King has returned, and he is not alone, in a panic Clara calls for her Godfather to help her. The Nutcracker is magically brought back to life again and calls upon his army to battle the mice, resulting in the Mouse Kings defeat. The Nutcracker is transformed into a prince and Clara into a Princess.
In the second Act Clara and the Nutcracker prince are taken to a Kingdom of flowers where the Mouse King once again returns and Drosselmeyer vies for Clara’s attention but she only has eyes for the Nutcracker prince. As dawn breaks, the kingdom of flowers fades and Clara finds herself back in the family living room with nothing but a basket of flowers and her small Nutcracker doll.
This was a truly magical performance by the Moscow City Ballet, Alevtina Lapshina was beautiful as Clara, every move seeming effortless. All the principle dancers were faultless, and as always Talgat Kozhabayev was fantastic as the Nutcracker prince. He never disappoints and his amazing grace and lightness of foot steals your attention in every scene he is in. A mention must also be made for Ekaterina Tokareva as the mechanical doll, she played the part fantastically.
The first act seemed a little frenzied in parts, possibly down to the sheer number of bodies trying to occupy quite a difficult stage, I would have preferred to see less of the ensemble playing the party guests and more of the mechanical dolls and principles, but the costumes, as always with MCB, were beautiful and the backdrop very well done. The second act was just spectacular from start to finish, although the story differed slightly from the more well known one, with sweeties and sugar plum fairy being substituted for the kingdom of flowers and the flower fairy, it all worked fantastically well and was a visual delight.
As I have noticed before at the Festival Theatre, the shape and size of the stage seems to slightly restrict the dancers somewhat, it appears they are holding back and stopping short on their jumps and there was the odd collision or two but they work marvelously well with what they have.
My only slight criticism of this performance is some of the male ensemble dancers don’t quite seem up to the standard of the female ones, but I would highly recommend this performance, to all – a fantastic introduction to Ballet and the music of Tchaikovsky.
Runs until the 8th January 2012
Moscow City Ballet : The Nutcracker - Festival Theatre, Chichester ,
Tags: Chichester Festival Theatre, Moscow City Ballet, Natalia Ryshenko, Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker, Victor Smirnov-Golovanov
5:17 pm on January 7th, 2012
This was a terrible performance, I spent the entire evening waiting for it to end and filling my time with spotting the mistakes. The costume’s and the set were all very low budget. I would never go back and see this company again. It was out of time and a cluttered performance. Nobody really seemed to know what they were doing, a very disappointing standard. It was more like a school play ! the second half was slightly better but still poor. Dont bother going to see this, it is a waste of money. One of the performers actually fell up the stage, it was the best bit. Sorry to be so negative but it really was quite rubbish !!
8:11 pm on January 8th, 2012
I disagree totally with the above review. I saw the performance today, and all the audience were enthralled. The costumes (nb not costume’s!) were lovely. The dancers were elegant, poised, and showed precision athleticism.
Shame on you!
10:06 pm on January 8th, 2012
Dear JG,
You must have seen a different show to us as most of the audience that we spoke with had the same views. Maybe they pulled it together for todays show.
Also you must have a liking to cheap material if you thought the costumeS were lovely.
NO shame on me – Shame on you ! It is good to have different opinions or the world would be a very boring place.
I am glad at least one person enjoyed it !
9:17 am on January 11th, 2012
I agree with Never Again, it was all quite dull and I really would not rush back. Quite a few mistakes and the first part we could not make head nor tail of what was going on. Too many people on the stage and no dancing. It is quite interesting if you read other reviews of this company, most of them are quite poor.
Let people express themselves on sites like this, everybody can have an opinion. The “shame on you” is a bit much. JG
I would not go and see this company again, sadly.