Those with more technical knowledge will marvel in addition at her speed, her pliability, her musicality, and that tremendous way she has of filling space.
The child-sized Hayward ( pictured right) is as fresh and clean as a snowdrop, qualities - along with her radiant smile - that even the most dance-illiterate of audience memebers will be seduced by. I suppose it's to be expected in this age of tiger moms and helicopter parents that the kids who are ostensibly the main characters spend most of the show being pushed around by a bossy adult, but wouldn't it be more magical for everyone if we could believe that the Land of Ice and Snow or the Kingdom of the Sweets were the fruits of Clara's imagination, rather than her godfather's? This is a ballet supremely suitable for children in every regard - length, story, visual inventiveness, extreme unscariness - and one of the mainstays of art for children is the belief that there are worlds children can only access on their own.ĭial down Drosselmeyer, just a bit, and Clara and the Nutcracker could shine more, which with Francesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell in the roles would be a very good thing - these two, now both Principals, are the headline cast for good reason. Gary Avis is an endearing magician-uncle to be sure, but does he really have to press the "start" button on every single dance number in Act II? His constant interference detracts from the magic of the otherworlds Clara and her Nutcracker prince voyage to. I say almost, because I began to feel, on last night's viewing, that the role of Drosselmeyer - whom Wright keeps on stage almost constantly to provide continuity - has got out of hand.
It helps that Wright's Nutcracker is a classic of the genre, almost perfect in every way.
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