Review by Julia Pattison: Moscow City Ballet’s The Nutcracker at Grand Opera House, York

Venue: Grand Opera House, York

Review: Julia Pattison

My five year old grandson loves his Ballet Classes, so was the perfect guest to accompany me to see the Moscow City Ballet present Tchaikovsky’s enchanting ballet The Nutcracker in the classic Russian style on Sunday, January 23.

Naturally, ATG is taking as many Covid precautions as possible and our allocated slot of entry to the Grand Opera House was 2.15pm ready for the performance at 3pm.

I came prepared, and brought my own much-loved and read Tales From Ballet book to read and pass away the time.

We also enjoyed identifying the various instruments from our seats as the musicians in the Moscow Ballet orchestra warmed up.

Conducted by Ivor Shavruk, Tchaikovsky’s sweeping score immediately transported all of us in the packed out audience to the magical land of The Nutcracker – oh the absolute joy of listening to superb live orchestra.

It soon became clear to me as the ballet got underway that this was a slightly unusual version of The Nutcracker with some features I’d not seen before.

In a nutshell Clara’s Godfather Drosselmeyer is given a principal role which allowed him as the magician to be in control of all fantasy; the enchanted waltz of the flowers was a particular highlight.

This was my grandson’s first outing to see a professional ballet production, and he, like the many young children (along with the adults) were totally captivated by the wonderfully graceful dancing, colourful set and costumes, all accompanied by Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece of a composition being given its tremendous orchestral reign by the outstanding full orchestra.

Kseniya Basnet was superb in her role as Clara, as was Timafei Voitkevich as the Nutcracker Prince, with Evgeni Silakov excelling as the mysterious, moody magician/ Drosselmeyer.

Too many names in the company to mention here, but from the vibrant Chinese Dance, to the stunning well-disciplined and beautifully synchronised corps de ballet, these talented performers cast a spell over us all.

All too soon, the curtain fell, but not before the principal dancers received their well-deserved applause with Reverence, which had a style similar to the ballet just performed; magical.

I can’t wait to see Swan Lake on tour!