I’m a big fan of company members playing Clara over students, who tend to read as an accessory rather than a protagonist. Soloist Katherine Ochoa is lovely in the role, portraying Clara as young but not juvenile. Her duet with the Nutcracker Prince (reincarnated after battle as Riku Ito) is full of comely lifts, leaps and dips, Ochoa’s ivory skirt flowing in the wake of each fluid phrase. She also makes a splash during the international dances, rustling her nightie alongside the Spanish delegation and gliding in stride with the Arabians—participation that helps weave these divertissements into the story instead of leaving them feeling tacked on. The exotica on display is tastefully handled, a flare of acrobatic jumps, swishing footwork and calligraphic port de bras with chirpy classical moves sprinkled in. 

We shift gears from bracing to benevolent for Reina Fuchigami’s Rose Fairy, a demure prelude to Yaoqian Shang’s Sugar Plum Fairy, who takes up the enchantress reins with a delectable balance of soft elegance and coquettish flair. Her grand pas de deux with Ito is a masterclass in musicality, the tulle of her tutu bobbing as she catches the hidden chimes and half-beats in Tchaikovsky’s score. There are some set pieces in this act that I’d expect to be a bit tighter, including the male consorts from ‘Waltz of the Flowers’; and the final moments pale next to the big-budget antics of Act I, with its strobing lights and snowfall of confetti. But these are small potatoes in a sumptuous feast of a show. It’s hard not to fall under its spell.