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Music
Pyotr Illyich
Tchaikovsky
Choreography
Marius Petipa
Production
Natalia Makarova
Designed by
Luisa Spinatelli
Staging and
Rehearsal Director
Christopher Carr
Conducted by
Valery Ovsyanikov
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Royal
Opera House
Covent Garden
26 February - 16 March 2004 |
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Parnassus is
a plateau, not a peak, and there is
room there for many kinds of excellence.
But if one had to choose a single ballet
from the classical repertoire as the
best example of its kind, it might have
to be The
Sleeping Beauty.
Its sumptuous music, and Petipa's paradigmatic
choreography, make it an experience
of art when in competent hands; and
the Royal Ballet's hands are far more
than competent.
The outstanding
feature of this production is its staging.
The settings and costumes are wonderful,
the children's dancing enchanting, and
the acting - by which is meant the theatrical
features of the whole, among dancers
and non-dancers alike - was excellent.
Zenaida Yanowsky danced a convincing
Carabosse, and in the third act episodes
Ricardo Cervera and Natasha Oughtred
as Puss-in-Boots and the White Cat respectively,
and Thomas Whitehead as the lascivious
Wolf, were most enjoyable. Best, though
was the dancing of Alina Cojocaru as
Princess Aurora, Federico Bonelli standing
in superbly well for an injured Johan
Kobborg, Lauren Cuthbertson as a reassuring
Lilac Fairy, and - although comparisons
are invidious, one has to say it - best
and most breathtaking of all, Ivan Putrov
as the Bluebird.
Johan
Kobborg danced the first part of Act
II, looking in excellent form, producing
beautiful floating leaps of remarkable
height, and playing Prince Desire with
the grandiloquence and hauteur he is
so capable of. But then the curtain
dropped, and his retirement from the
performance was announced. Disappointment
was very short-lived, for when Federico
Bonelli took over - not at the last
minute but well after the last minute
- he gave a performance which seemed
faultless, magisterial, and deeply felt
- and (it goes without saying) technically
accomplished. He too is a principal
who can hang in the air for impossible
lengths of time at impossible heights,
and because he is tall, dark and handsome
he makes a perfect Desire. The partnership
between him and Alina Cojocaru looked
relaxed, thoroughly rehearsed, and natural
- a case of fine dancerly instincts
from both parties.
Alina
Cojocaru is a delightful dancer to watch.
She has the quickness, lightness and
grace of line which outstanding ballerinas
make one believe flows from nature itself.
If there were a couple of moments when
she found balance hard to attain - this
in two or three technically difficult
passages, as when she was dancing with
her suitors in Act I - the greater part
of her performance was unblemished.
She is a quintessential Aurora, dancing
the part as if it were written for her.
The highlight
of the evening was Ivan Putrov's Bluebird.
Here is a dancer who seems to be suspended
on invisible wires, and flooded with
electric desire to arrow through the
air in perpetual flight. Every molecule
of his body is made of quicksilver,
or perhaps pure music. On a stage made
glorious by the beautiful design and
the fine performances of everyone around
him, Putrov nevertheless shone.
AC Grayling |
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