Few new ballets have been as anticipated or as high-stakes as Alice's Adventures In Wonderland.
The Royal's first full-length story ballet for 20-odd years, it is also the first choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon and composed by Joby Talbot.
If that weren't pressure enough, it's Monica Mason's first big commission as director of the company, which has a dazzling track record in dance-dramas. Mason retires next year, meaning this Alice is her last big ballet and will surely define her stewardship of our national troupe.
In some ways, Alice is not a good book for dance. The episodic story has charm in spades, but it's rooted in Carroll's nonsense and wordplay, which are lost in ballet's unspoken drama. Visually it is wedded to Tenniel's famous illustrations.
However, the characters have an almost kinetic energy, with the Mad Hatter, March Hare and White Rabbit practically jumping off the page, and Alice tumbling and morphing.
Both Wheeldon and Talbot have captured this fizz. Talbot's percussive score is glamorous and cacophonous, and evokes the near-riot of Lewis's characters. Talbot uses unexpected instruments, such as the vibratone and violins tuned a semitone sharp, which provide musical intrigue and frame the surreal narrative.
Wheeldon's family-friendly choreography matches the music step for note. His best sequences are for groups of four or five. The "sausage" dance for Alice, the Duchess, the Mad Hatter and March Hare was pacy, funny and ingenious, next to which the Act II flowers looked fussy and frantic.
Steven McRae was sensational as a tap-dancing Mad Hatter, Edward Watson was a suitably nervy White Rabbit, with Ricardo Cervera a zany March Hare.
Philip Mosley was a hilariously grave executioner-turned-Romeo. Zenaida Yanowsky was a terrifying Queen of Hearts and Simon Russell Beale was everything you'd expect from the bumptious Duchess.
Lauren Cuthbertson as Alice and Sergei Polunin as Jack were mercifully uncute, although he was rather under-used while she was used too much and looked exhausted by the end of Act I.
Also less good were the inconsistent designs (excellent Cheshire Cat, so-so sets and video).
In rep until March 15. Box office: 020 7304 4000 (roh.org.uk).
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WHAT THE OTHER CRITICS ARE SAYING:
Judith Mackrell, The Guardian
****
An Alice whose wit, speed and invention have lifted the whole story ballet genre into the 21st century.
Sarah Crompton, The Telegraph
****
Colourful, enjoyable fun. But it needed a little more dance and a little less action to take its place alongside those English story ballets the choreographer himself so admires.
Zoe Anderson, The Independent
****
A dazzling show.
Ismene Brown, The Arts Desk website
Very odd, very shallow, very bright and brilliantly bold staging, that makes no sense, that offers no depth, but which I suspect would be a blast if one were slightly stoned.
The Royal Ballet: Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
Royal Opera House
Floral Street, WC2E 9DD
