United Kingdom New English Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker: The Sainsbury Theatre, LAMDA, London, 18.12.2025. (JO’D)
With this almost ‘chamber’ production of The Nutcracker, performed to a recording of Tchaikovsky’s score, New English Ballet Theatre proves that less can be as good as more. The number of dancers is relatively small, but choreography, lighting, design and libretto combine to create magic on a larger scale.
Valentino Zucchetti has danced the role of the Nutcracker Prince at The Royal Ballet, where he is currently a First Soloist. He has choreographed work for that company, and for NEBT in the past. His choreography here, ‘after Petipa’, is sensitive to the notes and the spirit of the music. With Emily Bridge and NEBT’s Founder and Artistic Director, Karen Pilkington-Miksa, Zucchetti has also devised a neat, logical story that makes best use of the company’s resources.
A prologue shows The Party Entertainer (an immediately engaging Louis DeFelice) getting ready for the party of Act I. On a table near him are the Nutcracker Doll, for Clara, and a model ship for her brother, George. The Entertainer is equipped with a wand and a gold watch, which he will use to hypnotize the guests.
The party is in a modern-day setting: the men in dinner jackets; the women in evening dresses and jewels (costumes by Lisa James). The roles of the teenage Clara and George are taken by the adult Liudmila Konovalova and Marcos Silva. During the ‘social’ dancing of this act, with its contemporary moves and risqué moments, the Entertainer distributes gifts that refer to the divertissements of Act II: castanets, a fan, a coffee pot of silver-gilt, Russian Hats.
Before that, the Entertainer ushers in the Battle Scene. George, Lead Pirate of a band of female pirates (from his model ship), attacks the Nutcracker Doll, now Prince (Luca De Poli), and his men. The victorious Prince and Clara dance a pas de deux that shows De Poli to be an attentive partner. Both he and Konovalova are accomplished in a daring, climactic lift.
In the transitional Snow Scene Joshie Harriette’s lighting makes the stage expand. Zucchetti deploys five Snowflakes and four ‘Snowboys’ (all of whom were guests at the party) and introduces a charmingly smiling Snow Queen (Audrey Nelson). The backdrop shows a snowy landscape, a large house with lighted windows in the distance.
The more traditional Act II is set in what could be the ballroom of this house. Rebecca Arias and Zhaklin Gudeva stamp the heels of their ‘character’ shoes in unison in ‘Castanets’. Leila Wright and Nicholas Rose are sinuous in harem pants of grey and gold in the orientalist ‘Coffee Pot’. Emily Pohl, in ‘Fan’, makes one reference, with her feet, to a ‘Chinese’ dance. Shynngys Tolegen and Marcos Silva execute exuberant splits (and foutté in the case of the latter) in ‘Russian Hats’. ‘Champagne’ is a pas de trois danced with delicacy by Isla Ghali, Aurora Zaccutti and Paul Meneu. Like the Snow Scene, the Waltz of the Flowers (colour-tinged tutus for the women; coloured sashes for the men) conveys the impression of there being more dancers than there really are.
Luca De Poli is attentive again in the ‘Grand Pas’, for which Liudmila Konovalova becomes the Sugar Plum Fairy. After it, the ballerina leaves her partner rather awkwardly alone. Not because of sudden injury, as you might think, but to reappear as Clara on the drawing room sofa, holding the Nutcracker Doll aloft.
John O’Dwyer
Featured Image: NEBT’s The Nutcracker © Andrej Uspenski
Creatives:
Choreographer – Valentino Zucchetti after Marius Petipa
Music – Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto – Karen Pilkington-Miksa MBE, Emily Bridge and Valentino Zucchetti
Lighting designer – Joshie Harriette
Costume design – Lisa James, Karen Pilkington-Miksa MBE, Valentino Zucchetti and Emily Bridge
Cast included:
The Party Entertainer – Louis DeFelice
Clara’s Mother – Leila Wright
Clara’s Father – Hiroki Takano
Clara/Sugar Plum Fairy – Liudmila Konovalova
George (Clara’s Brother) – Marcos Silva
Nutcracker/Prince – Luca De Poli
Dancers of New English Ballet Theatre