SHOW: The Nutcracker - There are some who believe Christmas isn’t Christmas without a Sugar Plum Fairy and Tchaikovsky’s unmistakable music.

CAST: Burnise Silvius, Michael Revie, Chloé Grové
DIRECTOR: Iain MacDonald
VENUE: The South African State Theatre, Pretoria, until December 15

And then there are those who might feel the production is a little long in the tooth. This year they’ll find themselves proven wrong with the  South African Ballet Theatre’s
production of The Nutcracker.

The production has really been tightened up. The music, played
by the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, feels like it has a new bounce,  and the story moves quickly.
The party scene bustles with energy, while Clara’s dream has a lovely ephemeral feel to it.

They have also added a brand new character – the Christmas Tree Fairy, danced by senior soloist  Chloé Grové. Beautiful  in a crisp white tutu, there really is a magical feel to this character.

She becomes part of most of the dance sequences and almost acts as a narrator (although (silent) to the story.

The addition of this character, with all-new solos, changes the
ballet just enough, allowing fans to still enjoy the comfort of knowing the score while  experiencing  something new.

The highlight of this performance was the Sugar Plum Fairy (Silvius) and the Prince’s (Revie) final grand pas de deux.

The pair are magnificent together  and  spellbinding in their execution of the  complicated steps.

The whole production feels like it is working towards this moment and because the energy moves forward throughout, it really is fantastic.

This is a production that old fans and new audiences are going to enjoy.