The Nutcracker

Editorial

When: 8 - 14 September 2010
Where: Tivoli Theatre
Tickets: Ticketek 132 849

Following their sell-out 2009 performances of Swan Lake, the Imperial Russian Ballet Company returns to Australia to perform The Nutcracker, one of the world's most recognised and popular ballets.

Formed in 1994, the Imperial Russian Ballet Company features 40 classically and exactingly trained dancers from the major ballet schools of Russia, ensuring that Australian audiences will experience the beauty of The Nutcracker as its original choreographer, Marius Petipa and composer, Tchaikovsky, intended.

This reworked version of the oft-retold story, first staged in 1892, is set in an old German town at the beginning of the 20th century. It concerns a mysterious toy maker, Herr Drosselmayer, who comes to visit a family over Christmas, bringing with him toys for the household's two children, Clara and Fritz. Clara is particularly taken by one toy, the Nutcracker, and her ensuing adventures with the toy blur the line between dream and reality.

Featuring a mouse army and living toys, exquisite performances from the members of the Company including Farukh Ruzimatov, Yulia Makhalina and Diana Vishneva, and perfectly capturing the imaginative spirit of childhood, The Nutcracker is a truly classic ballet that has stood the test of ages.

Richard Watts, Citysearch