Dance: The fairy tale comes true

THE NUTCRACKER

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET

LYCEUM, LONDON

HERE'S ANOTHER Nutcracker arrived for Christmas, and a jolly good one too. Every production has Tchaikovsky's music as its starting-point and greatest asset, but this one, by Birmingham Royal Ballet, has the benefit of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia in the orchestra pit with Barry Wordsworth to conduct them, and you might be surprised what a difference that makes.

Advantage number two: there is not a gimmick in sight, unless you count the conjuring tricks interspersed throughout the action, and I reckon they are a bonus to Peter Wright's beautifully straightforward staging. He makes more sense of the simple story than most producers, and even keeps emotional interest going through the generally plotless second half by letting the heroine, Clara, take part in almost all the dances.

There is real choreography, too, the kind where the steps make attractive and meaningful patterns that relate to each other and to the music. Not to mention bold and apt designs by John Macfarlane.

Having just completed a successful run in its Birmingham home, the company arrives in London to show how apt the Lyceum is for ballet, even though it has not been used as such since 1931. To move about within the building proves complex, and redecoration has been done too much on the cheap, but the stage looks good. Are the Covent Garden companies kicking themselves for rejecting it as a temporary home?

BRB, widely thought the best ballet company in Britain now, offers a multiplicity of casts during its three-week London season. For an idea of its present strength, I hope you watched its alternative production, The Nutcracker Sweeties (to the jazz adaptation of Tchaikovsky by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn) on BBC2 yesterday afternoon.

The liveliness and zest these dancers brought to television is equally apparent on stage in the real Nutcracker. Sandra Madgwick took the lead on opening night as the most adorable, fresh and vivacious Clara I can imagine. As the Sugar Plum Fairy, Sabrina Lenzi had a brief but very pretty entry at the ballet's end, dancing her duet and solo with lovely assured line and a radiant smile.

Joseph Cipolla brought charm and perfect timing to the magician Drosselmeyer, and others who stood out were Timothy Cross as Clara's dancing partner, Robert Parker as a bounding Jack-in-the Box, and the four delicious Mirliton girls. But this is a company strong from top to bottom, worth seeing whoever is dancing.