Royce Hall - UCLA Customers Reviews
Canned music and bad artistic direction
I have seen better versions of the Nutcracker in small town high schools. LA Ballet should be embarrassed. First of all - canned music?? Really? You'd think that maybe it wouldn't matter so much, but knowing the dancers are dancing to a CD of the soundtrack really sucks the live, connected feeling you get from watching ballet performed to an orchestra or even a piano.
On top of that, many of the 'dancers' were really average. You could tell they spent $ on getting 3 or 4 solid stars, and the rest was just mediocre.
I was so excited to take my daughter to the show - her first time. And I left so confused and disappointed. The Prince and Nutcracker were dressed so similarly that despite knowing the show very well, I left wondering who was who.
The art direction was awful. One of the mice in the battle was literally doing jumping jacks. I think this was supposed to be funny?
For a city of 9 million people that focuses on entertainment as its primary industry, you'd think we'd have a thriving ballet company.
I spent $95/ticket on this travesty. It makes me appreciate real ballet performances, so I guess that's a silver lining.