credit: VOUX photography

Mention a nutcracker to a local, and he probably thinks of a tool you use to crack chili crab claws with. Artistic Director of Singapore Dance Theatre (SDT) Janek Schergen, took it to reinterpret a timeless Christmas ballet with an Asian slant, swapping the original European setting for a pre-World War I cosmopolitan Shanghai one.

In line with that, local designer Aaron Yap demonstrated good taste by creating costumes that combined traditional Chinese fashion with haute couture from Paris and London.

This version of The Nutcracker features the escapades that follow after Clara receives an exquisite German nutcracker doll from her eccentric godfather (played by Mohamed Noor Sarman). In another major departure, Clara takes a back seat in this production, leaving the previously supporting cast to take the limelight and push the story forward.

While it was a great shame that Tchaikovsky’s whimsical and soulful score wasn’t performed by a live orchestra, the recorded music worked out well enough through the overhead speakers. At any rate, the crowd could be heard happily humming along to one of the world’s most iconic tunes – “Waltz of the Flowers”.

In the opening act, a group of close friends was preparing themselves for a large Christmas party to be hosted by the Nightingales, a well-respected family in Shanghai.

Russian ballerinas were brought in to entertain the guests and godfather Drosselmeyer’s close friend gave an amazing magic performance. Although this scene showed spectacular enchantments of the adults and children affectionately drawing in to display the holiday spirit, the choppy choreography involving the dancers was rather disappointing.

The party scene seemed to have no concise storyline development as all the dancers were aimlessly scattered across the stage. The dancing was also masked by the messy formation, while the excessive amount of time spent walking around by the dancers simply left the audience to feel clueless in Clara’s next move.

credit: VOUX photography

That night, Clara sneaks back downstairs to look for her Nutcracker doll and the spell cast by the Magician begins to unfold. An army of mice appeared from nowhere, causing mayhem by stealing all the food and gifts.

Despite the use of guns and swords, the supposedly fierce battle between the mice and the heroic toy soldiers came across as flat and repetitive with the lack of action and dancing. The choreography failed to capture either parties as baleful and sinister, and the fight scene lacked in synchronicity and appeared under rehearsed. However, the amazing jumping abilities of the toy soldiers wowed the audience, and the beautifully trained children saved the lackluster performance by waltzing and holding the arabesque position.

Then the story moved to the Land of Snow, where Clara met the Snow King and Queen, played by Chen Peng and Chihiro Uchida. The duo was the characters to look out for that evening as they exuded flawless chemistry throughout their sequences.

Uchida demonstrated both elegance and buoyance, before blazing through the next sequence. Her triple fouettés during her solo was impressive as well. Chen complemented Uchida’s moves splendidly and portrayed his character as courageous and chivalrous with his impressive turns and leaps.

“I think that the Snow King and Queen are the redeeming value of the entire Nutcracker production. The chemistry between them was palpable,” says Syed Ebrahim, 19, who’s doing National Service in the Police Force.

credit: Bernie Ng

Things picked up in Act 2 with not only stunning choreography and lavish costumes, but most of the evening’s best dancing.

Clara and the Nutcracker Prince arrived at the Kingdom of Sweets where her older sister Marie greeted her as the Sugar Plum Fairy with her Prince Consort. Impressed with Clara’s bravery and the Nutcracker Prince’s heroism, the Sugar Plum Fairy presented them with a line-up of lavish performances. Everyone came forward to amuse Clara with colorful dances from Spain, China, Russia, Holland, France and Istanbul. Rosa Park who played the elegant Sugar Plum Fairy danced with grace and executed several sequences of pirouettes that were technically flawless.

Samantha Png, a 21-year-old student shares with UrbanWire, “The production was splendid despite the lack of a concise storyline. In terms of dancing, it got intense towards the end of Act 1 and throughout Act 2. I’m actually looking forward to Christmas after watching this.”

The Nutcracker has always had a special appeal for children, and was even more appealing when the talented dancing children added charm to their every scene. Indeed, this production has pleased the little ones as children in the audience were seen skipping and humming along to the “Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy” after the close of the production. Overall, The Nutcracker is a winner despite some fudged turns.

The Nutcracker continues through Dec 4 – 8 at the Esplanade Theatre. Tickets are available from $30 to $70 at SISTIC.