APPROXIMATE TIMINGS

This performance will last approximately 2 hours and 5 minutes including a 30-minute interval ACT I 45 minutes ACT II 39 minutes

THE ROYAL BALLET Director KEVIN O’HARE CBE GUIDANCE Founder Please note that there is a gunshot approximately DAME NINETTE DE VALOIS OM CH DBE 30 minutes into Act I and a canon shot a minute later Founder Choreographer followed by two further gunshots SIR OM CH CBE Founder Music Director CONSTANT LAMBERT Prima Ballerina Assoluta CAST DAME MARGOT FONTEYN DBE Herr Drosselmeyer GARY AVIS Clara ANNA ROSE O’SULLIVAN Hans-Peter/ JAMES HAY The Sugar Plum Fairy LAURA MORERA The Prince FEDERICO BONELLI

ACT I Drosselmeyer’s assistant DAVID YUDES Housekeeper BARBARA RHODES THE Dr Stahlbaum CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS Mrs Stahlbaum ELIZABETH MCGORIAN Fritz FLYNN HALLWORTH NUTCRACKER Clara’s partner BENJAMIN ELLA Grandmother KRISTEN MCNALLY Grandfather PHILIP MOSLEY Harlequin TÉO DUBREUIL Columbine ISABELLA GASPARINI Soldier JOSEPH SISSENS Vivandière MEAGHAN GRACE HINKIS Mouse King DAVID DONNELLY Snowflakes ARTISTS OF BALLET IN TWO ACTS ACT II Choreography PETER WRIGHT after LEV IVANOV Chinese dance Choreography Act I Battle Scene (2020) WILL TUCKETT LEO DIXON, CALVIN RICHARDSON Music PYOTR IL’YICH TCHAIKOVSKY Dance of the Mirlitons Reduced orchestration ROWLAND LEE ASHLEY DEAN, ISABELLA GASPARINI, Original scenario MARIUS PETIPA after E.T.A. Hoffmann’s MEAGHAN GRACE HINKIS, ROMANY PAJDAK Nussknacker und Mausekönig Russian dance Production and scenario PETER WRIGHT GIACOMO ROVERO, DAVID YUDES Designer JULIA TREVELYAN OMAN Waltz of the Flowers Rose Fairy CLAIRE CALVERT Lighting designer MARK HENDERSON Her escorts Production consultant ROLAND JOHN WILEY WILLIAM BRACEWELL, TÉO DUBREUIL, Restaging (2020) KEVIN O’HARE, GARY AVIS BENJAMIN ELLA, VALENTINO ZUCCHETTI and SAMANTHA RAINE Leading Flowers Assistant Ballet Mistress SIAN MURPHY ANNETTE BUVOLI, MELISSA HAMILTON, Principal coaching NATHALIE HARRISON, MAYARA MAGRI ALEXANDER AGADZHANOV, LESLEY COLLIER, Flowers CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS and EDWARD WATSON ARTISTS OF THE ROYAL BALLET Benesh notators MAYUMI HOTTA and GREGORY MISLIN Angels and children STUDENTS OF THE Conductor KOEN KESSELS ORCHESTRA OF THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE Concert Master SERGEY LEVITIN

SATURDAY 12 DECEMBER 2020 AT 2PM THE 498TH PERFORMANCE BY THE ROYAL BALLET AT THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE SYNOPSIS PRODUCTION CREDITS Drosselmeyer, a timeless magician and creator of mechanical Senior Stage Manager JOHANNA ADAMS FARLEY toys and clocks, was once employed in a royal palace where Deputy Stage Manager SARAH WOODWARD he invented a trap that killed off half the mouse population. Assistant Stage Managers ANNA BILSON In revenge the wicked Queen of the Mice cast a spell over and JACLYN FULTON Drosselmeyer’s nephew, Hans-Peter, which transformed him Production Manager COLIN MAXWELL into an ugly Nutcracker Doll. The only way to break the spell Model Room Draughtsperson HANNAH TAYLOR was for the Nutcracker to defeat the Mouse King, thereby Costume Supervisor NATALIA STEWART committing an act of great bravery, and for a young girl to Assistant Costume Supervisor CARINE MARROT love and care for him in spite of his awful appearance. Scenic construction and painting ROYAL OPERA HOUSE PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT, When Drosselmeyer is invited to entertain the guests at a CARDIFF THEATRICAL SERVICES, BERT RICHMAN, Christmas party that his friends, the Stahlbaums, are giving, SHOWSCENE, TERRY MURPHY (SCENERY) LTD, HARKERS STUDIOS, LIZ REED, PETER CROMBIE, JAMES HUNT he decides that this could well be the opportunity he has been and MALCOLM KEY looking for. Props ROYAL OPERA HOUSE PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT, Their daughter, Clara, is a little younger than Hans-Peter GERRY JUDAH STUDIOS, A.M.FLINT SCENERY, NASH imprisoned in the Nutcracker, and what better time than & DUNLOP, MICHAEL WHITELY ASSOCIATES, PAUL Christmas, when the mice are busy stealing the leftovers, for SANDERS, DELSTAR ENGINEERING LTD., RUSSELL BECK, and a confrontation between the Mouse King and the Nutcracker? JANE JONES JEREMY HART He decides to put the Nutcracker in the tender care of Clara Cloths supplied by J.D. MCDOUGALL LTD, GERRIETS (UK) LTD and makes a special Christmas Angel to guide her through Wires her task. A1 ROPES & RIGGING Costumes, hats, headdresses, wigs, jewellery, dyeing ROYAL OPERA HOUSE PRODUCTION / REVIVAL When all the guests have departed and the house is asleep, DEPARTMENTS Clara, in search of the Nutcracker, creeps downstairs and Additional costumes discovers Drosselmeyer waiting for her. He draws her into his LAL D’ABO, MADELEINE FRY, STEN VOLLMULLER, own special world of fantasy where time is suspended, and TRISHA HOPKINS, JACKIE HALLATT and ROXY CRESSY exerts all his powers to transform the living room into a great Footwear battlefield and summons the Mouse King. In the ensuing BLOCH, FREED, GRISHKO, LEWIS JONES, GAYNOR fight between the mice and the toy soldiers the Nutcracker MINDEN, MERLET, PRINCIPAL, REPETTO, SANSHA defeats the Mouse King, but only through the intervention and SO DANCA of Clara, who, out of compassion, saves the Nutcracker’s life. Music preparation Transformed into his real self, he dances with Clara and they MARTIN GEORGIEV AND THE ROH MUSIC LIBRARY: JULIE COOK, HANNAH GRAY, ROBIN GORDON-POWELL, TONY find themselves in the Land of Snow. Drosselmeyer then RICKARD, EMMA SYRUS and JOANNA TAYLOR sends them on a magic journey to the Sugar Garden in the Rehearsal pianists Kingdom of Sweets where they meet the Sugar Plum Fairy ROBERT CLARK, KATE SHIPWAY, MICHAEL PANSTERS and her Prince. and TIM QUALTROUGH Students of The Royal Ballet School appear by kind Freed at last from his imprisonment inside the Nutcracker, permission of the Artistic Director, Christopher Powney Hans-Peter recounts to the Sugar Plum Fairy his great adventure and how Clara saved his life. They then join in a magnificent entertainment put on by Drosselmeyer to honour them for their bravery. THE ROYAL BALLET Director KEVIN O’HARE Returning to reality, Clara runs out into the street in search Music Director KOEN KESSELS of Drosselmeyer and encounters a strangely familiar young Resident Choreographer WAYNE MCGREGOR man, while back in his workshop Drosselmeyer prays that his Artistic Associate efforts will be rewarded. His nephew returns; the spell has CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON indeed been broken. Administrative Director HEATHER BAXTER Clinical Director Ballet Healthcare SHANE KELLY — Peter Wright

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