SATURDAY 12 DECEMBER 2020 AT 2PM THE 498TH PERFORMANCE BY THE ROYAL BALLET AT THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE APPROXIMATE TIMINGS THE ROYAL BALLET This performance will last approximately 2 hours and Director 5 minutes including a 30-minute interval KEVIN O’HARE CBE ACT I 45 minutes Founder DAME NINETTE DE VALOIS OM CH DBE ACT II 39 minutes Founder Choreographer SIR FREDERICK ASHTON OM CH CBE Founder Music Director CONSTANT LAMBERT GUIDANCE Prima Ballerina Assoluta Please note that there is a gunshot approximately DAME MARGOT FONTEYN DBE 30 minutes into Act I and a canon shot a minute later followed by two further gunshots CAST THE Herr Drosselmeyer GARY AVIS Clara ANNA ROSE O’SULLIVAN Hans-Peter/The Nutcracker JAMES HAY NUTCRACKER The Sugar Plum Fairy LAURA MORERA The Prince FEDERICO BONELLI ACT I Drosselmeyer’s assistant DAVID YUDES Housekeeper BARBARA RHODES Dr Stahlbaum BALLET IN TWO ACTS CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS Mrs Stahlbaum Choreography PETER WRIGHT after LEV IVANOV ELIZABETH MCGORIAN Fritz Choreography Act I Battle Scene (2020) WILL TUCKETT FLYNN HALLWORTH Clara’s partner Music PYOTR IL’YICH TCHAIKOVSKY BENJAMIN ELLA Grandmother Reduced orchestration ROWLAND LEE KRISTEN MCNALLY Grandfather Original scenario MARIUS PETIPA after E.T.A. Hoffmann’s PHILIP MOSLEY Nussknacker und Mausekönig Harlequin TÉO DUBREUIL Production and scenario PETER WRIGHT Columbine ISABELLA GASPARINI Designer JULIA TREVELYAN OMAN Soldier JOSEPH SISSENS Lighting designer MARK HENDERSON Vivandière MEAGHAN GRACE HINKIS Production consultant ROLAND JOHN WILEY Mouse King DAVID DONNELLY Restaging (2020) KEVIN O’HARE, GARY AVIS Snowflakes ARTISTS OF THE ROYAL BALLET and SAMANTHA RAINE Assistant Ballet Mistress SIAN MURPHY ACT II Chinese dance Principal coaching LEO DIXON, CALVIN RICHARDSON ALEXANDER AGADZHANOV, LESLEY COLLIER, Dance of the Mirlitons CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS and EDWARD WATSON ASHLEY DEAN, ISABELLA GASPARINI, Benesh notators MAYUMI HOTTA and GREGORY MISLIN MEAGHAN GRACE HINKIS, ROMANY PAJDAK Russian dance GIACOMO ROVERO, DAVID YUDES Waltz of the Flowers Conductor BARRY WORDSWORTH Rose Fairy CLAIRE CALVERT ORCHESTRA OF THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE Her escorts Concert Master SERGEY LEVITIN WILLIAM BRACEWELL, TÉO DUBREUIL, BENJAMIN ELLA, VALENTINO ZUCCHETTI Season Principal MRS ALINE FORIEL-DESTEZET Leading Flowers Production supported by ANNETTE BUVOLI, MELISSA HAMILTON, NATHALIE HARRISON, MAYARA MAGRI Flowers ARTISTS OF THE ROYAL BALLET Angels and children Generous support from JULIA AND HANS RAUSING, STUDENTS OF THE ROYAL BALLET SCHOOL KENNETH AND SUSAN GREEN, LINDSAY AND SARAH TOMLINSON, AND THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE ENDOWMENT FUND The 2020/21 Ballet Season is generously supported by AUD JEBSEN 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 ROYAL OPERA HOUSE RECOVERY CAMPAIGN Live performance is a shared experience, and our audiences are at the heart of what we do on our stages, backstage, online, in cinemas and in our communities. This year’s global pandemic has affected all arts organisations across the world. We have lost £3 in every £5 of our income, and any Government loan will take us only part of the way. We need your help to bring artists back to our stages. Please consider making a donation to the Royal Opera House Recovery Campaign. roh.org.uk/donate.