Witness artistic team work at its best in The Nutcracker on Ice

Based upon a story by German writer E.T.A. Hoffman, The Nutcracker tells the tale of a little girl’s fascination and love for her new toy, the Nutcracker doll, and how this brings him to life.

It’s a delightful premise and with the heady adventures that follow, deliciously fairy-tale like, in the wonderland places that it goes.

The Ballet, commissioned from composer mastermind Tchaikovsky premiered in St Petersburg in 1892. I wonder if this great man ever imagined how long his work would live on for and the amount of joy it would continue to bring?

Set on a cold Russian Christmas Eve, The (award winning) Imperial Ice Stars present an enchanting Christmas ride for us – on a cold July Adelaide night.

It is difficult to highlight any one aspect of this spectacle against another, for the entire piece and all elements of it together is nothing short of superb.  This is a beautifully skated Tchaikovsky ballet at its very finest.

The skaters, all magnificent, are experts at their mesmerising art form. They weave this magical
journey which launches from funny into beautiful and romantic into sad with just the perfect dose of darkness and moments of visual calm. And try to credit any skater above another – well no, not this reviewer. Bravo to all!

Extravagant Christmas party, the moonlit snow, the Kingdom of Sweets and the giant world of make believe – the set design and costumes are brilliant and create the perfect accompaniment to the dazzling performances.

With meticulous Tony Mercer direction (and what a task this must have been) and an outstanding music arrangement by conductor and composer Tim A. Duncan we witness artistic team work at its best.

An army of scurrying mice, tin soldiers on mass, Spanish and Chinese dancers, fire, a magician act and heart stopping acrobatic highwire acts all contribute to this theatrical extravaganza.

See The Imperial Ice Star’s Nutcracker on Ice anyway that you can. And if you can’t, then Google them, read about them; lose yourself in the pictures, stories and descriptions about how this work has been put together. And for a moment ponder on the greatness of Tchaikovsky and the beauty and genius one of his finest and most loved works.