Hong Kong Ballet Nutcracker Review
December 12, 2021 | Grand Theatre – Hong Kong
Ballet companies have one thing in common: a love/hate relationship with The Nutcracker.
On one hand, the production hits box office records and attracts new audiences for marketing executives. On the other hand, the thin line between creativity and artificial overacting in the ballet keeps directors awake at night given the children-oriented plot and festive settings. Still, just like all healthy relationships, the outcome usually contains a little bit of both.
Therefore, it comes as a surprise watching the world premiere choreographed by Hong Kong Ballet‘s Artistic Director Septime Webre. It triumphs in terms of marketing and PR for being 100% sold out but, at the same time, it lowers the bar of creativity to such a level that Hong Kong Ballet’s grand finale of 2021 seems to be a hodgepodge of random local elements, characters and stereotypes ranging from various moments in history.
The ironic part is that almost everything in this production has a backstory, but unfortunately, they are as awkward as a group of neighbors who have shut themselves behind closed doors so that they don’t have to speak to one another.
On stage though, Christmas started very nicely with someone selling roasted chestnuts in front of Kom Tong Hall (a historical building of Hong Kong) leading the audience through yet another localized production following that of the company’s Romeo and Juliet.
The first act was a celebratory scene with some funny parts. When the social butterfly based on Shanghainese movie star Lily Yuen appeared, many men clustered around her within seconds. Tao Sifu (the equivalent of Drosselmeyer), a magician, gave Clara a nutcracker, and the moment she got it she danced lightly around under a glistening Christmas tree and skillfully protected it from her brother.
Nana Sakai portrayed a joyous and loving Clara. As the naughty brother Fritz, Lin Chang-yuan Kyle energized the audience with his playfulness.
In general, there wasn’t much room left for dancing in the first act, as they were busy doing greetings, drinking, and Ma-Jong playing. Despite the fact that one could almost feel some of the dancers’ hunger to show the audience that they could dance, too, the acting scenes succeeded in entertaining the audience.
However, they became somewhat confused when Tao Sifu opened a gigantic vase and two dancers appeared from inside. The male dancer had long black eyelashes, a Chinese Opera type of blush, and a feathery crown as well as a shimmering costume that somewhat resembles what a drag queen may consider wearing in a tucked-away SOHO bar. According to the program, the man was a Crane and his accompanying female dancer a Peony. It took a while before the audience realized that the characters were references to what was painted on the vase.
The next surprise was a far easier guess, although I almost thought it was a hallucination due to side effects from my booster shot: It was the Monkey King from Journey to the West. First of all, this figure has loads of backstory in tales and Buddhism, and it just doesn’t fit in the middle of a traditionally Western party. Second, it doesn’t work in a Hong Kong Ballet production for a simple fact: the audience has plenty of Monkey King versions to choose from when they want to watch one, and it would be less lame to show the audience something else in a Nutcracker.
Rounds and rounds of iconic but random people and things continued to show up. For example, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a revolutionary figure who made no contribution plot-wise or dance-wise to the show. The same happened with other celebrities.
A significant part of this production is kids. It was indeed lovely to see a bunch of sweet girls, teddy bears, and toy soldiers, but then the scene drags on and on, with insects, plants, mammal cubs, amphibians, and finally a char siu bun, an egg yolk bun, and four other plates that challenges your dim sum knowledge.
In total, Hong Kong Ballet’s Nutcracker includes as many as twenty-three groups of kids with 120 names appearing in the cast list (some may duplicate, though). Each kid means at least three tickets sold – a smart financial move but not a friendly one for the audience members.
The randomness and cultural clashing in the variations peaked in the second act when a couple appeared on stage.
Garry Corpuz, half-naked with long hair and a small bun made his first move, slowly and lustfully removing the coat of Gao Ge. She then danced with him in a tight, silver leotard. The dancers performed smoothly – Hong Kong Ballet dancers are capable of delivering contemporary masterpieces such as those of Nacho Duato.
Unfortunately, this pas de deux did not echo the Arabian dance the way it is supposed to and here is why. Primarily, it was a collection of poses and lifts most commonly seen in a contemporary dance, copy and pasted to match Tchaikovsky’s music; it makes you want to curl your toes.
Secondly, the moves of the male dancer may be considered loving at moments, but overall they are dominating and controlling. As a work of art, shouldn’t one be open to considering what a real male-female relationship is like or would it be best to just close our eyes and stick to absolute male dominance in a world where toxic masculinity is a trendy hashtag?
Worst of all, let’s not forget we were still in Clara’s dream. And given how lustful rather than naturally sexy this pas de deux was, if any 12-year-old girl dreams of this, she needs immediate parental guidance on what she watches on her iPad.
Thankfully, the dancers gave the best they could during what was left to dance. Principal dancer Shen Jie controls every part of his body with precision that only comes with talent and after many years of practice. As the Cavalier, he ensured he posed and turned with elegance through the ends of his fingertips, took his time to connect with the audience, and intimated his posture to envelop the audience in the story.
Jessica Burrows nailed it with her Dew Drop Fairy. She danced with strong balance (she delivered a few iron-steady arabesques on pointe), extended lines, and flying jumps. The audience was clearly in awe of her performance and greeted her in return with many rounds of applause.
Many of the dance variations were performed pretty cleanly. Yet by the time we got to the peacock and cockatoo dancing, I was simply drained by too much happening, such as a bun hill, a big buddha head, and a white tiger.
What set the audience eyes free from this colorful bomb for a precious five minutes was the Snow pas de deux.
Daniel Camargo, former principal of Dutch National Ballet, tilted his head slightly with Hong Kong Ballet’s Principal dancer, Ye Feifei, standing by his side. This pas de deux won the audience over even before the technical part began. Within seconds, they showcased what the standard of this Nutcracker should have been.
When Daniel danced, he was almost fluid, and every tiny detail of his body was polished by years of experience and practice. From one side of the stage to another, he remained princely and elegant, including during those powerful jumps that the audience enjoyed immensely.
Ye Feifei is the kind of ballerina that could always top herself and she made a perfect Snow Queen. Her spacing, timing and serene energy glistened. This pair was more a statement of why classic ballet is still full of unexplained magnetism and pure beauty that often tops all those other plates of entertainment on offer.
Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the award-winning conductor Yip Wing-sie gave a beautiful and solid performance.
Overall, this was an entertaining, commercially astute production. The dancers had a great time and much of the audience enjoyed an evening with their families discovering familiar objects and characters. Yet Tchaikovsky might kill himself again if we revived him to watch it… but we wouldn’t do that, would we?
I hope this isn’t a directional change for Hong Kong Ballet because 1) it was essentially the equivalent of American Ballet Theatre doing, say, an Avengers version of The Nutcracker, 2) I secretly doubt how high this production would rank on a dancers’ list to include on an audition tape, and 3) I wouldn’t be surprised if audience members went home wordless and googled some real Nutcrackers to fill the emptiness in their chest (I personally find that the 2010 Bolshoi version with Nina Kapstova and Artem Ovcharenko serves this purpose well).
Featured Photo for this Hong Kong Ballet review of Henry Seldon and Forrest Rain Oliveros in Septime Webre’s The Nutcracker. Photography by Eric Hong.
