" The Magic Nut " ( world premiere )

[Ballet lovers]

It is really more and more painful to see how the credibility and the professionalism of the Mariinsky ballet is falling down after every performance.

Obviously the fault is not of the artists because they are all professionals of high-level but only of a shameless direction who has the proud to stage this kind of performances on this stage.

A clear exemple of the no competence and impudence of the ballet direction, is this " world premiere" of the "Magic Nut".

Of course the Mariinsky Theatre, as every top company, wants to be very unique and original in comparison with the other world top-companies , staging everytime new works to attract more attention of the audience but it seems that this " gold rush " has maked them lose any rule of judgement.

We think that, in absence of good works, it will be better for the theatre to perform his traditional repertory and avoid this shame !

ACT FIRST:

The only very interesting sight of this staging, were, without any doubt, the costumes and scenes of Mikhail Chemiakin. So, if in the most of the whole act the choreography of Donvena Pandoursky was so stupid, irritating or practically non-existent, we could admire other things, unfortunately so far from ballet.

Absolutely beautiful and full of power the interpretation of Anton Adasinsky from the theatre "Derevo" as "Herr Drosselmeyer". His plasticity and rough figure as a dredful marionette, had gave the right definition of this role.

Andrey Merkuriev and Maya Dumchenko in the main roles, were good , even if it is quite difficult to judge them from their rare commonplaces dance pieces.

Very nice was also Irma Nioradze as "Temptress" ( except her bad "fouettes"). It seems she can dance better this kind of roles, with a more "free" tecnique and interpretation, than the pure repertory where she is often very rude and not accurated.

The most terrible scene of this act, was the " Sea Kingdom" were it was so sad to see top ballet artists compelled to perform sea wiches, sea demons,,jellyfish, seaweed, seahorses etc. with an awful choreography and music, as in the last amateur dance company in a village.

Especially, was so awful to see a so good dancer like Ekaterina Osmolkina as an irritating , excited frog who tried to violate everytime Aidasinsky and the poor Merkuriev.

ACT SECOND:

The corps de ballet was absolutely terrible and not accurated as also in the first act. Maybe not so much rehearsals, or maybe not so much will of the artists to dance this stupidities. We can understand them !

In any case, this act was a little more interesting as choreography. At least some ballet "pas", variations and corps de ballet's scenes to name this performance " ballet".

Very good Evghenia Obraztsova and Alexei Nedviga as " The rat Jester" and " The Royal Jester".

In the last " divertissement", maybe the only really interesting part of the whole ballet, all the ballet pieces were wonderfully performed by all the artists. We have distinguished especially Maxim Khrebtov, Vasily Sherbakov, Mikhail Lobukhin, Dmitry Pikhachov as "Turkish Suitors", and Maxim Ziuzin, Alexander Sergheev as " Hungarian Suitors".

Very amazing also the pupils of the Vaganova Ballet Academy in different roles. A huge " bravo" to their teachers !

Big success on the end of the performance !

For all the children in the audience it was a really wonderful sight. Without any doubt, they can have now more fun in the Mariinsky Theatre than in Disneyland !

[Natalia]

Thank you for the detailed report, BalletLovers. Somehow, I'm not too sad about having missed this one.

Questions: Do you know if this utilizes the very same musical score of Princess Pirlipat (second installment of the Chemyakin Nutcracker saga, two years ago) or is this a 100percent "original" score? It's the same composer, I know. Similarly, I'm wondering if the Pirlipat costumes have been recycled for Magic Nut? The Pirlipat costumes were quite magnificent, in a Faberge motif, if memory serves.

I now shudder to think how much ca$h may have been wasted on both the Pirlipat and Magic Nut prequels to Nutcracker.

As much as I admire the artistry of Chemyakin & the craftsmanship that go into the execution of his designs, I hope that this parade of sequels does not go on for as long as the Star Wars movies!

[Cygnet]

". . . I hope that this parade of sequels does not go on for as long as the Star Wars movies!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If Chemyakin's going for the Star Wars prequel model, (not counting his 'Nutcracker' ), he'll need one more ballet after 'Princess Pirlipat' and 'The Magic Nut' to complete the trilogy. Someone else has also posted on another link that it's a waste of time, talent and money. Q: Can anyone really add to or take away from a stand-alone masterpiece? Not that 'Nutcracker' compares, but who would dare put bookends on 'Sleeping Beauty?' IMO Chemyakin's designs are very good, but shouldn't he start looking for another source of inspiration? Based on the reports he's exhausted the 'Nutcracker' lore.

[sophia]

I read a very bad report in the "St Petersburg Times" about "The Magic Nut". What do you think of it?

I live in Paris, and in December, we'll be very happy to see the Maryinski at the mythical théâtre du Châtelet. Chemyakin's "Nutcracker" will be played. What can you tell me about this version? I saw pictures of it and despite I don't like that ballet very much, it seemed to me quite marvellous... So I have great expectations... Am I right or not?

[Ballet lovers]

Thank you for the detailed report, BalletLovers.  Somehow, I'm not too sad about having missed this one.

Questions:  Do you know if this utilizes the very same musical score of Princess Pirlipat (second installment of the Chemyakin Nutcracker saga, two years ago) or is this a 100percent "original" score? It's the same composer, I know.  Similarly, I'm wondering if the Pirlipat costumes have been recycled for Magic Nut? The Pirlipat costumes were quite magnificent, in a Faberge motif, if memory serves.

I now shudder to think how much ca$h may have been wasted on both the Pirlipat and Magic Nut prequels to Nutcracker.

As much as I admire the artistry of Chemyakin & the craftsmanship that go into the execution of his designs, I hope that this parade of sequels does not go on for as long as the Star Wars movies!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Natalia !

It seems the music and some of the costumes were the same of "Princess Pirlipat".Obviously the choreography is different but...no good results !

Another useless production for the Mariinsky Ballet ! Very sad situation.