Once
Again: Road Show
"Don
Quixote”
The Bolshoi Ballet and Orchestra
Filene Center
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
Vienna, Virginia, USA
August 5 & 6, 2005
by
George Jackson
copyright
©2005 by George Jackson
The orchestra set the tone for the entire production: brassy, showy.
Pulse and crescendo were played up by Pavel Klinichev's conducting, not
the melodies nor lilt in Ludwig Minkus's music. Credited for the "after
Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky" choreography this time, like
last, was Alexei Fadeyechev. The effect, though, was different. When Fadeyechev,
then director of the Bolshoi Ballet, first set this version of "Don
Quixote" in 1999 and Washington saw it at Kennedy Center shortly
thereafter, the work had nuance.
As a road show now, this "Don Q" gives the audience value: over
two hours worth of dancing—ballet, character and in between—on
a stage crammed with colorful costumes (after 1906 designs by Vasily Dyachkov)
and pleasant sets (Sergey Barkhin) . The waves of dancing don't build
gently to a peak but start at high crest and break only when done. There's
also pantomime, and when delivered by Alexander Petukhov, it is very worth
watching. As the Sancho Panza—comic sidekick to the pathetic Don—he
almost manages to tie together the loose ends of the very "after"
Cervantes action.
Some of the audience, having recently seen the revival of George Balanchine's
"Don Q", expected the story to turn serious but that, of course,
doesn't happen. Fadeyechev focused on the lovers Kitri and Basil and followed
the events of Petipa's scenario fairly faithfully, and also the locations:
the Don's study, a Barcelona market, the interior of an inn, a gipsy camp
equipped with a marionette theater and nearby windmills, a forest clearing
and, finally, the great hall of a ducal castle. American audiences are
more used to having the inn scene follow the gypsy camp scene and the
forest clearing's dream scene. However, just about every company today
omits or merges two other places—Dulcinea's garden and the ducal
hunting grounds—that Petipa positioned after the forest scene. Restoring
part of Petipa's original ending, which would bring the Don significantly
back into the action, might benefit all current productions—except
in the eyes of those fans who treasure each and every one of ballet history's
whimsical ways.
Friday's performance was the one more notable for classical dancing whereas
Saturday the ballet's three great women's character solos were even more
potent than the first night.
Maria Alexandrova, Friday's Kitri, is no stranger to Washington audiences.
This classical dancer had been noticed here during earlier Bolshoi engagements,
first as a very promising soloist. On the company's last visit, Alexandrova
seemed to have hit a plateau. Technically strong, she appeared to be becoming
muscle bound and had even taken a step back in authority. This time, at
last, Alexandrova was dancing at ballerina caliber. Broad boned and steady,
her balances could defy earthquakes, her turns were as speed controlled
as an electric blender's and as for leaps, they wouldn't have been much
larger if she started them on a diving board. Best of all, Alexandrova
now enjoys her own dancing and seems to have found the right model—the
heroic sculptural one that Marina Semyonova exemplified during the Stalin
years.
Also impressive in the classical category were the two young women soloists,
the "bridesmaids" whose variations decorate the ballet's final
pas de deux for Kitri and Basil; the cast names in the program for them
on both days were Natalia Osipova, the joyous first one, and Nelli Kobakhidze,
the elegant second, but it was Friday that they wore their dancing lightly,
like hints of perfume. The female corps de ballet and Nina Kaptsova as
Cupid did themselves proud both times in the dream scene; Anastasia Yatsenko's
Street Dancer and Maria Allash's Dryad Queen were performed decently .
Saturday's Kitri, the young Ekatarina Shipulina, is more flexible than
Alexandrova, but not yet with absolute control so that it becomes too
much sometimes.
Two of the three great character solos were in the inn: the first being
by a proud woman in white with castanets (probably Kristina Karaseva,
both nights) and the second by a flamboyant woman in red (probably Irina
Zibrova on Friday, Evgenia Rozovskaya on Saturday). Then, in the next
scene, there was the gypsy dance (Anna Antropova, both nights). These
solos were added to "Don Quixote" in the early 20th Century
by choreographers Kasyan Gole(i)zovsky, Rostislav Zakharov and Anatoly
Simachov to music that wasn't Minkus's. On Saturday, the intensity of
these cameos was incredible and met both the demand for showoff and that
for moodplay.
The leading men were staunch partners and adequate soloists. Especially
Friday's Basil, the slightly pudgy Jury Klevtsov, gave Alexandrova solid
support; Saturday's Vladimir Neporozhny coped with the lighter Shipulina
despite his spindly legs. Timofey Lavrenyuk, a poster Toreador, seemed
short of breath on Saturday.
The Bolshoi ought to invite Alexei Fadeyechev back to refresh "Don
Quixote" because it should be more than a road show of separate hit
numbers. A strong director can blend the virtuosity, romance, sense of
the ridiculous and exoticism of this operetta of a ballet into a coherent
adventure. A few people thought Alexei Fadeyechev was back and had appeared
as the Duke, a small walking role. If the printed program is correct,
that was another, a younger dancer—Alexander Fedeechev, who is a
regular member of the Bolshoi's corps de ballet. For unabashed showoff
in "Don Quixote" no one has yet matched the newsmaking Anastasia
Volochkova. During her days of favor at the Bolshoi, Volochkova did Kitri's
fouette turns while simultaneously twirling her fan into the air and catching
it again.
Volume 3,
No. 31
August 15, 2005
copyright
©2005
George Jackson
www.danceviewtimes.com
|
|
Writers |
Mindy
Aloff
Dale Brauner
Mary Cargill
Christopher Correa
Clare Croft
Nancy Dalva
Rita Felciano
Marc Haegeman
George Jackson
Eva Kistrup
Gia Kourlas
Alan M. Kriegsman
Sali Ann Kriegsman
Sandi Kurtz
Alexander Meinertz
Gay Morris
Ann Murphy
Paul Parish
John Percival
Tom Phillips
Susan Reiter
Lisa Rinehart
Jane Simpson
Alexandra Tomalonis (Editor)
Lisa Traiger
Kathrine Sorley Walker
Leigh Witchel
|
|
|