REVIEW: Nutcracker The Musical, Pleasance Theatre ✭✭✭

Maria Coyne and Peter Nash in Nutcracker the Musical. Nutcracker! The Musical

Pleasance Theatre

9th December

3 Stars

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Even at a time when individual mince pie intakes are reaching double figures, The Nutcracker is still able to provide a festive glow. Tchaikovsky’s opera is one of the most frequently performed ballets of all time and the music has become a perennial part of popular culture, featuring in TV shows, films and video games.

Nancy Holson’s effort to turn the show into a musical is therefore hugely audacious, given the majesty of the original score. The show generally retains the plot of the original; Herr Stahlbaum and his wife are celebrating Christmas with their children, Marie and Fritz. Suddenly, the mysterious Dr. Drosselmeyer arrives and entertains the children with his special gifts, including a nutcracker for Marie, which comes to life to tell a tale of kings, queens and strange fantasy worlds.

The script was a real puzzler, lurching from drama to panto style repetitive silliness. The more engaging moments were when the play stuck to the source material more faithfully; the fresh elements were markedly less compelling. The best scene by far was the famous Sugar Plum Fairy, where music, lyrics and choreography came together in a natural way.

Apart from this, the lyrics were serviceable but struggled to hit the mark; the song Royal Banquet in the first half was set to a piece of music so fast that I wasn’t able to make out a single word. When trying to accompany such stirring music, true lyrical brilliance is needed and it only rarely achieved these heights. This was mainly during the solo numbers when the music was brought to the forefront; some of the ensemble numbers became jumbled and unwieldy, especially in the first half.

Kris Webb in Nutcracker The Musical

The vocal talent for this for production was hugely inconsistent, with a huge gulf within the cast, which lends some questions around casting; performers often seemed to be singing outside their vocal range. It seemed strange that Kris Webb as Drosselmeir (who seemed to be struggling with the demands of his part) had the most vocal time whereas Leigh Rhianon Coggins, who has an excellent soprano voice, was mainly given supporting harmonies apart from one solo number.

Her superbly sung version of Land of the Sweets (essentially the Sugar Plum Fairy) was one of the rare moments when the action on stage lived up to the score. Maria Coyne was also wonderful as Marie; showing natural acting talent and a powerful voice. Beyond this, the cast acted well but the vocal mix was never quite right; not to foster gender divides but the female voices were generally stronger and sharper than their male counterparts.

The staging was ambitious and impactful; there was a Les Mis style revolving stage and a rough and ready charm to some of the props, particularly a highly resourceful elephant. Eleanor Field’s costumes were remarkable and colorful featuring a magical array of designs. There were a few sound issues during the night and parts felt a bit under rehearsed; hopefully it will get slicker during the course of the run.

Nutcracker! The Musical is a valiant effort that never quite sets out what it wanted to achieve. It’s not funny enough to be a panto or gripping enough to be true drama, however still contains enough festive magic to raise a smile.

Nutcracker The Musical runs at the Pleasance Theatre until 3rd January 2016