DAN JOINER REVIEWS DON QUIXOTE MIKHAILOVSKY BALLET Music: Ludwig Minkus Choreography: Marius Petipa, Alexander Gorsky, The production also features choreography by: Nina Anisimova, Igor Beisky, Robert Gerbek, Kasyan Goleyzovsky, Fyodor Lopukhov Staging: Mikhail Messerer Costume Engineering: Alla Marusina Stage Designer: Vyacheslav Okunev Conductor: Valentin Bogdanov Ballet is my favorite art form, and if I could I would go every night of my life. It was a great joy to be back at the former New York State Theatre (renamed David E Koch Theatre) at Lincoln Center. I had seen the Mikhailovsky Ballet Company’s “Flames of Paris” and tonight was seeing “Don Quixote” If you see this ballet, I warn you knowing “The Man of La Mancha” is not going to help much at this ballet. The curtain opens with a prologue where we meet Don Quixote (Marat Shemiunov) and Sancho Panza (Alexey Kuznetsov). The Don decides he needs to travel to achieve great quests. Act 1 begins in Barcelona where we meet Kitri (Angelina Vorontsova) the daughter of the innkeeper Lorenzo (Roman Petukhov). She is in love with Basilio (Victor Lebedey) a barber. They want to marry. Her father says no, she will marry Gamache (Pavel Maslennikov) a rich noble fop. Don Q and Sancho P arrive on a real horse and donkey (the Mikhailovsky has budget) The Don thinks Kitri is his Dulcinea the girl in his dreams. While everybody in town is dancing (it’s a Ballet)…Kitri and Lorenzo run off. Act II begins in a tavern where Kitri and Lorenzo are hiding out…but not for long. The father, fop, Quixote, and Pinza arrive and find her. Because he can’t marry Kitri, Basilio kills himself. Don Q threatens and Lorenzo relents, they can marry…even though Basillo is dead. But he isn’t, he was faking it…he jumps up and the two exit again. In the next scene we are in a Gypsy camp, with a windmill. The Q man disrupts a play done by children (in the program it says a puppet show, but I didn’t see any strings…I saw children)…then turns his attention to a windmill and charges it. We then see his ‘body’ caught on a windmill blade over the top and dropped on his head. The dazed Don and his Sancho then find themselves in a forest…where the Don falls asleep. He dreams he sees Dulcinea accompanied by cupid (Veronika Ignatyeva) and dryads. Sancho appears waking Don Q, and bringing with him the Duke (Roman Petukhov) and Duchess (Zvezdana Martina) who ask both to their castle. Act III At the castle, all welcome Quixote, and having heard of Kitri and Basilio’s love, the Duke and Duchess invite them to have their wedding party at the castle. The Don thinks again that Kitri is his Dulcinea, but is persuaded she is not. All honor the Don and dance. This is a lovely production which began with an overture played brighter than I have ever heard it before. So bright, I wondered how they would be able to dance to it…but the corps de ballet did easily…and the music stayed fast. The sets and costumes are fairytale beautiful. Angelina Vorontsova is a charming Kitri (reminding me of a young Karen Kane)…Ms. Vorontsova is fast, light, has a high leap, and an extension to the side that would put most normal folks in traction. Her fouette’s are flawless. She sparkles when she dances. Victor Lebedey was Basilio, a fine dancer, with excellent partnering skills. Leaps, pirouettes, balance and charm were all there in his performance. The only disappointment I had with their partnering occurred in the last act in their grand pas de deux. In all the productions I’ve seen before there is a section in this dance reminiscent of “Sleeping Beauty” Kitri goes into arabesque on point one hand over her head the other hand in Basilio’s hand as he walks around her… she holding her arabesque. When this is completed she raises her hand to over her head and holds that arabesque then puts her hand back on his and the pattern is repeated (sometimes 2 sometimes 3 times). Tonight that did not happen. They did something else. It was still a good pas… they are good dancers, but that tension in the audience of ‘can she hold it’ wasn’t there, because it wasn’t attempted. All of the dancing the two did prior to this piece of choreography was done very well as was this dance, but I missed what wasn’t there. One of the highlights of seeing the Mikhailovsky Ballet Company more than once, is the dancing done by Mariam Ugrekheldze In “The Flames of Paris” she danced Tresa a Basque but tonight danced a solo Gypsy Dance in Act II. I have a feeling anytime she dances people pay attention with very good reason. Ms. Ugrekheldze is a firecracker of a dancer. Sparks fly, skirts fly, guitar’s fly…she is an amazement. I hope she’s back here soon, no one should miss seeing her perform. Here’s an example of the dance she did tonight… https://youtube/watch?v=lk47dBeuDyA HAPPY FACE Nov. 22, 8:00 pm Angelina Vorontsova, Ivan Vasiliev, Ekaterina Borchenko Nov. 23, 2:00 pm Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev , Svetlana Bednenko *subject to change David H. Koch Theatre (Lincoln Center) David H. Koch Theater is located on the south side of the Lincoln Center Plaza, at Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street. Ticket Sales: 212-496-0600 davidhkochtheater/
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 19:42:56 +0000
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