Nutcracker: Hong Kong Ballet Cultural Centre December 14.
Continues till December 23 A vermin army with lethal 'ratapults', exotic teenage dream sequences, a story as much about childhood as about the challenges of growing up: with this delightful new production, Hong Kong Ballet appears to have cracked the problem of its annual show.
Each year the difficulty is how to keep the Nutcracker fresh for young audiences, when dancers, directors and musicians alike tend to see this popular piece as a financial necessity rather than an artistic pleasure to present.
One of the strengths of artistic director Stephen Jefferies - on stage and as a choreographer - is his emphasis on acting, and this is a very drama-led version of the Tchaikovsky classic.
Sprinkled between the Christmas tinsel of happy dancing, there is an intriguing psychological side to Jefferies' choreography.
Who is this King Rat that creeps around Clara's bedroom as she sleeps? And, as the young Clara (performed convincingly by Hanado Hoshini-Caines) dreams, not only does she imagine the Sugar Plum Fairy, she becomes her.
Persuasive story and sets were enhanced by strong principal dancers. Eriko Ochiai was a plum of a fairy heroine, Michael Wang a charmingly heroic prince in the pas de deux that for many people is the Nutcracker. The Ice Palace divertissements were choreographed to reflect a teenage girl's fantasies - of seeing the world, of handsome young men, of sexual awakening.