Swan Lake (American Ballet Theatre)

Completing my frankly ridiculous run of Swan Lakes, this being my fifth in about two weeks, another American Ballet Theatre performance. I probably wouldn't have bothered, I didn't much like the production the first time and wasn't impressed by the company, but I had a friend staying and in the end I was glad I did. Act I remains a mess but elsewhere there are some positives to the production and both corps and principals were looking in better shape.

I like the added prologue. Maybe it shows a lack of trust in classical ballet narrative (as many have complained) but to my mind, the traditional Swan Lake doesn't have a narrative of much clarity and this helps things along nicely. It's also darker than usual which I really like, the stuffed swan is perhaps overkill. Act I remains untidy and unattractive. The various dances have had their neat structure ruined with smudged groupings and weird formations. Excellent to see Frederic Franklin, a ninety-four year old, as the tutor. It's not exactly a major role but still, he's a bit of a legend. The pas de trois went off more or less without a hitch. Carlos Lopez is a tidy dancer with plenty of verve and both Renata Pavam and Simone Messmer danced impressively.

Paloma Herrera wasn't the most expressive Odette (especially next to Zenaida Yanowsky's amazing performance I'd caught the night before) but she's a more than decent. I think some blame must fall on the production. For reasons I cannot quite conceive the Siegfried/Odette relationship just doesn't seem to work and it's pretty much the hinge of the show. Maybe it was simply poor acting from the various dancers but I'm liable to blame the production especially when Herrera transformed herself into a flirty, sexy Odile and the sparks still failed to fly. The new dance for Rothbart and his general foregrounding is still startlingly effective, Jared Matthews giving a suitably vivid performance, but maybe it distracts from the central relationship to the production's cost. Herrera put together a beautifully refined but infinitely sexy performance and Ethan Stiefel was an ideal partner. Odile and Siegfried almost clicked but despite some strong dancing it still wasn't overly effective.

The final Act is so truncated it all feels abrupt and things weren't helped by Herrera jumping early such that the audience heard a big thump as she hit the crash mat and then Stiefel performing a ridiculously gymnastic leap, almost like a superman flying pose, into the lake. The corps was still far from world class but got through it without any major hitches.

Not a production I'm going to remember terribly fondly, despite the stronger performances from the leads, emotions were still far from evident. The narrative clarity fails to create any sustained tension or romance; it's all just a bit flaccid. It's hardly an unpleasant way to spend an evening but, the show just never takes flight. The ABT aren't what I expected but this was still a major improvement, from the corps to the principals, from the first performance I caught. Le Corsaire is coming up this weekend and hopefully it'll be a better production.