New Adventures |

PRESS RELEASE

Ambassador Theatre Group

present

Matthew Bourne's

NUTCRACKER!

Music by Tchaikovsky

A New Adventures Production

One of the most popular dance productions ever staged in the UK, Matthew Bourne’s NUTCRACKER! returns to Sadler’s Wells this Christmas to celebrate its 20th Anniversary with a limited seven week run from Tuesday 6 December 2011 - Sunday 22 January 2012, as well as touring extensively throughout the UK (tour schedule below).

Christmas 2011 also marks another special anniversary, as New Adventures returns to Sadler’s Wells for its 10th consecutive Christmas Season. Tickets for the Sadler’s Wells Christmas season are on sale now. Full casting and further touring venues to be announced shortly.

Matthew Bourne’s NUTCRACKER! follows last year’s hugely successful production of CINDERELLA, which after an 8 week, sold out run at Sadler’s Wells and a recent international tour has now played over 200 performances and been seen by over 240,000 people.

This delicious theatrical feast has family-sized helpings of Matthew Bourne’s trademark wit, pathos and magical fantasy. NUTCRACKER! follows Clara’s bittersweet journey from a hilariously bleak Christmas Eve at Dr. Dross’ Orphanage, through a shimmering, ice-skating winter wonderland to the scrumptious candy kingdom of Sweetieland.

Tchaikovsky’s glorious score and Anthony Ward’s delicious sets and costumes combine with sizzling choreography to create a fresh and charmingly irreverent interpretation of the traditional favourite. Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne, it is co-devised by Martin Duncan, with lighting design by Howard Harrison and sound design by Paul Groothius. Musical Director and Principal Conductor for the Sadlers Wells season will be Brett Morris

Described by The Observer as “the undisputed king of dance theatre”, Matthew Bourne’s company New Adventures has produced some of the most successful dance productions of the last two decades including Swan Lake, Edward Scissorhands and last year’s sell-out hit, Cinderella.

Matthew Bourne is widely hailed as the UK’s most popular and successful Choreographer/Director. He is the creator of the world’s longest running ballet production, a five-time Olivier Award winner, and the only British director to have won the Tony Award for both Best Choreographer and Best Director of a Musical.

Matthew Bourne said today " When our Nutcracker! premiered, with Opera North, at the Edinburgh Festival, in 1992, none of us had any idea that it would still be around twenty years later. I remember my trepidation at approaching such a classic of the ballet repertoire, little knowing that one day it would become something of a classic in its own right, playing more performances than most classical productions of the ballet, regularly studied in schools and colleges and often touring from Christmas well into the Spring months, long after most other Nutcrackers have been put in mothballs till the next Festive Season!

It seems only right, on this occasion to thank my original collaborators, Martin Duncan and Anthony Ward, for helping to create a story and a set of characters (Gobstoppers, Marshmallows, Knickerbocker Glory etc) that have become much loved throughout the UK, and of course, Nicholas Payne, the then Director of Opera North, who took the gamble of commissioning a very small, quirky young dance company to take on Tchaikovsky's glorious masterpiece.

This 20th Anniversary tour will see New Adventures playing more venues than ever before, taking Clara's adventure from Dr Dross' Orphanage to Sweetieland to vast new audiences across the UK. I can think of no better way to celebrate this incredible milestone. Happy Birthday Nutcracker!"

http://www.matthewbournesnutcracker.com/

For further press information please contact Simon Raw on 07818 444 115 or simon@rawpr.co.uk
or Mark Senior on 07800 665 904 or mark@rawpr.co.uk

TOUR DATES 2011/2012

The Churchill, Bromley – Saturday 5 – Saturday 12 November 2011
ON SALE NOW

Cardiff, Wales Millennium Centre - Tuesday 15 – Saturday 19 November 2011
ON SALE NOW

Regent Theatre, Stoke - Tuesday 22 – Saturday 26 November 2011
ON SALE SOON

Edinburgh Festival Theatre - Tuesday 28 – Saturday 3 December 2011
ON SALE NOW

Liverpool Empire - Tuesday 24 – Saturday 28 January 2012
ON SALE SOON

New Victoria Theatre, Woking - Tuesday 31 January – Saturday 4 February 2012
ON SALE SOON

Birmingham Hippodrome - Tuesday 7 – Saturday 11 February 2012
ON SALE SOON

Milton Keynes Theatre - Tuesday 14 – Saturday 18 February 2012
ON SALE SOON

Glasgow King's Theatre - Tuesday 21 – Saturday 25 February 2012
ON SALE SOON