We are lucky
that The Nutcracker isn't an annual cash cow in Singapore
like it is in North America. When a good production hits town, we are
more likely to enjoy it on its own terms. Surprisingly, Singapore Dance
Theatre's latest version of this holiday chestnut, which included
pre-show amusements like, um, live story-telling, counts as one such
instance.
I say "surprisingly" because for the 22-strong SDT, full-evening
ballets - particularly The Nutcracker - are especially tough
to mount. Besides the expense and the coordination with live musicians,
students, parents and other extras are needed to fill out the cast,
and even then, many company dancers still have to take on multiple roles.
That the SDT survived the opening night without any major mishaps is
an achievement in itself.
The Nutcracker has some sentimental value to the SDT. In 1992,
it was first staged for the company by co-founder Anthony Then, who
led the troupe with Goh Soo Khim until his death in 1995; it was also
the first evening-length work to enter the repertoire. Then's staging
has since been performed with some regularity, most recently in 2001.
Having never seen Then's Nutcracker, I cannot tell the extent
to which resident choreographer Jeffrey Tan's overhaul has deviated
from his mentor's vision. But I think Then would have liked Tan's rendition,
which retains the revelry and fantasy that makes this 19th-century ballet
still attractive today. And it helps that Tchaikovsky's immortal score
was capably rendered by the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra under maestro
Lim Yau, plus the choirs of Swiss Cottage and Westwood Secondary Schools.
While Tan hasn't strayed far from the original scenario - based on E
T A Hoffmann's 1816 The Nutcracker and the Mouse King - he
has made some minor adjustments. He's framed the ballet as a tale from
a children's storybook, starting as it does with the elderly Drosselmeyer
pulling a tome from the cheery bookshelves that line the proscenium
arch. This literary theme paints the stage in primary colours and bold
designs, from Mark Wee and Tzuen Yap's pop-up sets to Eugene Tan's video-animation
backdrops.
For the first act, he's moved the action outdoors to a village square,
where folks are preparing to celebrate Christmas and where we meet our
prepubescent heroine Clara. Thirty-something Cheah Mei Sing - she of
Arts Central's Go Tutu Go! - is petite enough to carry off
playing a child, but more importantly, she's able to inject more classical
dancing into a role not known for its artistic range. As an adult pretending
to be a kid, Cheah never seemed cloying or annoying, and that must have
been hard to pull off; she should be getting meatier roles.
The libretto doesn't state the connection that Drosselmeyer (SDT
ballet master Paul de Masson) has with the villagers; he's usually
an uncle or godfather figure. But as everyone bows reverently to him,
he probably commands a good deal of respect in the community. More like
a grandpa, but no slouch when teasing naughty boys, his affection for
Clara is clear and he gives her a nutcracker doll. (But when she kisses
him in return for his kind generosity, pardon me if I found it somewhat
gross that he goes a little weak-kneed.)
At night, Clara enters the village square to retrieve her forgotten
nutcracker doll, only to be caught in the war between the rats -
led by a Mouse King dressed like a Roman centurion - and the full-grown
Nutcracker with his toy soldiers. After gingerly hurling a shoe at the
rats' leader, Clara makes him stay down by setting off the soldiers'
toy cannon. We learn towards the end that this scene and most of Act
Two are part of Clara's dream, a common device in most Nutcrackers
to explain these events.
The second act has most of the evening's best dancing, and Tan
has tweaked the context in which the famous divertissements occur. Here,
Clara and her now-handsome Nutcracker Prince (Robert Mills), while flying
to the Kingdom of Sweets on a hot-air balloon, journey through Spain,
France, Arabia, Russia, China, and Holland - geographic settings
for the Spanish dance, Dance of the Mirlitons, Arabian dance, Russian
dance, Chinese dance, and Waltz of the Flowers, respectively. (These
dances are traditionally performed in the Kingdom of Sweets as court
entertainment for the Sugar Plum Fairy and her guests.)
Most of these travel diversions look as they should, but Tan has reserved
his most radical changes for the Chinese dance, which was so charming
that I wished it were longer. In a nod to Chinese opera, eight women
in magenta wear one sleeve long and flowing, which they artfully flick
and gather to the music's bouncy tempo. Their mincing entrance,
though, felt a little too mannered, even for Chinese folk dancers.
Overall, this Nutcracker is a winner, despite the occasional
wobble and some fudged turns; Tan has shown himself amply capable of
fulfilling his ideas onstage and organising personnel in visually interesting
ways. He should be pleased with his first full-evening venture. |
"I think company co-founder Then would have liked Tan’s rendition,
which retains the revelry and fantasy that makes this 19th-century ballet
still attractive today"
Credits
Concept, Scenario and Choreography: Jeffrey Tan
Conductor: Lim Yau
Ballet Master: Paul de Masson
Rehearsal Assistants: Mohd Noor Sarman, Cheah Mei Sing,
and Janice Chan
Repetiteur: Shane Thio
Costume Designer: Hella Chan
Lighting Designer: Eric Valentin
Assistant Lighting Designer: Dorothy Png
Set Designers: Mark Wee, and Tzuen Yap
Animation Designer: Eugene Tan
Property Designer: Jaye Tan Jia Yee
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