Scottish Ballet The Nutcracker Festival Theatre Edinburgh 8th January 2025 Review
Scottish Ballet The Nutcracker is at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh until Saturday 18th January and, tonight, a frosty Edinburgh evening just fitted in with this Christmas/winter fantasy wonderland perfectly.
The Nutcracker is unlike any other work from Scottish Ballet as it has become a fixture on many people's “go and see” festive schedules and tonight, as always, this was a night out for the whole family from the youngest to oldest member. There is always a warmth to this show that somehow captures that little bit of the magic of Christmas no matter what age you are.
This production of the Nutcracker is a re-visualisation by Christopher Hampson (Scottish Ballet's CEO/artistic director) and his team of his revival a decade ago of the company’s founder Peter Darrell’s hugely innovative 1972 production. Who can now imagine The Nutcracker without children performing in it?
An idyllic Christmas Eve party with over the top sugar plum coating and a young girl's fantasy dream as she falls asleep after all the presents and sweets have been handed out is what, along with Tchaikovsky’s sublime musical score for this ballet, are the eternal ingredients for a very special musical and visual fantasy land to unfold in front of the audience, and this production simply pulls you right into the heart of everything.
Whether you are a girl or boy dreaming of one day being on a stage performing any of these roles, the Nutcracker so often is the ballet on which so many future dancing dreams and professional ballet careers start with. And why not? After all this one has everything, A Prince (Nicol Edmunds), The Snow Queen (Gina Scott), The Sugar Plum Fairy (Marge Hendrick), a magician, Drosselmeyer (Melissa Polson), a host of other characters, and of course that young girl Clara (performed by Esme Noronha this evening).
Although this is a contemporary ballet with updated choreography, it is still very much a traditional ballet which also pays tribute to the forms, styles and history of traditional classical ballet and it is done so well that the two meet and blend seamlessly. Adding so much to the wonderland of The Nutcracker are the wonderful set and costume designs by Lez Brotherston with every character in this ballet having their own carefully constructed visual identity.
This updated story/choreograpy gives us more of some classic scenes and the Christmas Eve party is now a whole story within itself full of individual characters of all ages enjoying this special evening. Keeping this story line always moving and engaging with the adults and children present is the magician Drosselmeyer, and although these magic tricks may be well known classic ones, Melissa Polson performs them in style and even today in a world of CGI digital effects, the children in this audience seemed to be amazed by them.
Part of the magic of The Nutcracker is the ability of the dancers making the ballet movements of The Prince, The Snow Queen and The Sugar Plum Fairy look to an audience to be effortless. This of course is an illusion as these are all both technically and physically demanding roles for anyone to dance, particularly the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy which allows for very little rest in between performances. Tonight Nicol Edmunds, guest courtesy of Royal Ballet in the role of The Prince, Gina Scott (The Snow Queen) and Marge Hendrick (The Sugar Plum Fairy) added this elusive magic of making the difficult look so natural to perform. Adding to this magic was the very good chemistry between Marge Hendrick and Nicol Edmunds when dancing together.
The Nutcracker also offers the opportunity for some very special performances by many members of Scottish Ballet and everyone had their own part to play in bringing their own little bit of magic to the stage. For this performance, Esme Noronha as the young girl Clara needs a special mention as being on stage in this role was so obviously a dream come true for her.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
The Nutcracker is unlike any other work from Scottish Ballet as it has become a fixture on many people's “go and see” festive schedules and tonight, as always, this was a night out for the whole family from the youngest to oldest member. There is always a warmth to this show that somehow captures that little bit of the magic of Christmas no matter what age you are.
This production of the Nutcracker is a re-visualisation by Christopher Hampson (Scottish Ballet's CEO/artistic director) and his team of his revival a decade ago of the company’s founder Peter Darrell’s hugely innovative 1972 production. Who can now imagine The Nutcracker without children performing in it?
An idyllic Christmas Eve party with over the top sugar plum coating and a young girl's fantasy dream as she falls asleep after all the presents and sweets have been handed out is what, along with Tchaikovsky’s sublime musical score for this ballet, are the eternal ingredients for a very special musical and visual fantasy land to unfold in front of the audience, and this production simply pulls you right into the heart of everything.
Whether you are a girl or boy dreaming of one day being on a stage performing any of these roles, the Nutcracker so often is the ballet on which so many future dancing dreams and professional ballet careers start with. And why not? After all this one has everything, A Prince (Nicol Edmunds), The Snow Queen (Gina Scott), The Sugar Plum Fairy (Marge Hendrick), a magician, Drosselmeyer (Melissa Polson), a host of other characters, and of course that young girl Clara (performed by Esme Noronha this evening).
Although this is a contemporary ballet with updated choreography, it is still very much a traditional ballet which also pays tribute to the forms, styles and history of traditional classical ballet and it is done so well that the two meet and blend seamlessly. Adding so much to the wonderland of The Nutcracker are the wonderful set and costume designs by Lez Brotherston with every character in this ballet having their own carefully constructed visual identity.
This updated story/choreograpy gives us more of some classic scenes and the Christmas Eve party is now a whole story within itself full of individual characters of all ages enjoying this special evening. Keeping this story line always moving and engaging with the adults and children present is the magician Drosselmeyer, and although these magic tricks may be well known classic ones, Melissa Polson performs them in style and even today in a world of CGI digital effects, the children in this audience seemed to be amazed by them.
Part of the magic of The Nutcracker is the ability of the dancers making the ballet movements of The Prince, The Snow Queen and The Sugar Plum Fairy look to an audience to be effortless. This of course is an illusion as these are all both technically and physically demanding roles for anyone to dance, particularly the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy which allows for very little rest in between performances. Tonight Nicol Edmunds, guest courtesy of Royal Ballet in the role of The Prince, Gina Scott (The Snow Queen) and Marge Hendrick (The Sugar Plum Fairy) added this elusive magic of making the difficult look so natural to perform. Adding to this magic was the very good chemistry between Marge Hendrick and Nicol Edmunds when dancing together.
The Nutcracker also offers the opportunity for some very special performances by many members of Scottish Ballet and everyone had their own part to play in bringing their own little bit of magic to the stage. For this performance, Esme Noronha as the young girl Clara needs a special mention as being on stage in this role was so obviously a dream come true for her.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com