Stanislavsky Ballet - Roland Petit's Coppelia at the London Coliseum

[aileen]

My daughter and I saw this this evening. I'm not sure what I feel about it. It's very different from the versions which I have seen before (ENB's and BRB's); there's no village setting, no peasants, no corn dance and no dolls in Dr Coppelius' house. Sergei's solo dancing was immaculate and he was convincing in the role of the jack-the-lad Franz. Kristina Shapran was charming as Swanhilda. Anton Domashev was good as Dr Coppelius, the role which Petit created for himself when he must have been over 50 years old.

[Jan McNulty]

Aileen, I've amended the title to show it is a performance by the Stanislavsky Ballet.  It sounds an interesting production - I've seen 2 very opposing views on twitter tonight.

[alison]

No Dawn and no Prayer, either.

 

Thanks for starting the thread, aileen.

[Coated]

I thought it was delightfully bonkers and I loved the little gaggle of pink-tutu'ed ballerinas nearly as much as Polunin's star-turn. I saw him for the first time today, and now understand what all the fuss is about.

[alison]

The role certainly suits him down to the ground ...

[aileen]

I was surprised to see him do a light-hearted comedy role so well.

[Arky]

Curiouser and curiouser!

 

It was pantomime farce and music hall frolics and even some ballet with the twist thrown in at the end!! Not my cup of tea, but,judging by the applause at the end, many people did enjoy it.

 

Certainly Sergei danced well, but I felt the principals could have done so much more.

 

Having seen this Coppélia I now understand Sergei's comments on the ballet in the Metro this week - "He’s also pretty dismissive of what he calls ‘happy ballets’ – which Coppélia is. ‘It’s just to show off, that’s all you do – you play stupid and playful.’ "

[aileen]

Arky, I was trying to think of how to describe the flavour of this Coppelia. I think that 'music hall' is a good term. I felt that it had a touch of French cabaret (if that's what the Can Can is) about it: ballerinas shaking their 'tail feathers' at various times and strutting about flirtatiously. Of course, Franz's 'prop' at the very beginning of the opening scene told you clearly that the piece had been made by a French choreographer. Was the additional music at the beginning of each scene played on a barrel organ? That gave the piece a touch of the fairground.

[Arky]

Aileen, it certainly sounded like a barrel organ, but from where I was I couldn't see the orchestra pit.

[aileen]

Sergei has made so many disparaging comments about his art and, by extension, his audiences that I'm actually beginning to wonder whether he has some sort of development disorder. I know that young men can be very immature but he is not that young any more and he has been working for some years now. The constant negative comments over so many months show an incredible lack of understanding of how he comes across or of how insulting he is being to the RB, his female partners, the paying public etc. I imagine that many dancers have strong preferences about roles and ballets but they accept the reality of the ballet world ie that they need to be 'collegiate' if a company is to be harmonious, that certain ballets sell much better than others and ballet companies have to balance the books and that sometimes they need to dance romantic or light-hearted roles because that is what the audience LIKES and the appetite for edgy or dark ballets is quite limited. Last night, I thought that he was almost in tears at the start of curtain call and I wondered what was going through his mind. He received the largest applause.

[Bluebird]

Aileen, it certainly sounded like a barrel organ, but from where I was I couldn't see the orchestra pit.

 

I could see the whole of the orchestra pit apart from the extreme left.  A friend could see the whole of it apart from the extreme right.  Neither of us could see any instrument being played so I can only assume it was a recording (or could it have being played off stage?).

[aileen]

Ismene Brown's review in The Arts Desk gives a good account of the ballet, emphasising the French 'ooh-la-la' flavour of the choreography. I agree with her about Sergei's partnering and Kristina's height (I wonder how tall she is). Luke Jennings (on Twitter) seems to have hated it. I suspect that it is a bit of a 'marmite ballet'. To those of you who have yet to go: put the ENB, BRB and, presumably, the RB versions out of your mind and judge it on its own merits.

[alison]

I could see the whole of the orchestra pit apart from the extreme left.  A friend could see the whole of it apart from the extreme right.  Neither of us could see any instrument being played so I can only assume it was a recording (or could it have being played off stage?).

 

It sounded as though it was coming from the loudspeakers to me.

[Beryl H]

Although I don't think Coppelia is one of Roland Petit's best ballets, Sergei Polunin's effortless brilliant dancing (he does those gravity defying horizontal leaps seen in Le Jeunne Homme et la Mort) and Anton Domashev's flair and artistry as Coppelius (it could have been Petit dancing) made this an exciting evening, these two men rather overshadowed Kristina Shapran's Swanilda, although the choreography was partly to blame, I did miss the traditional version.  No cast lists were available but the 3 main names were posted up in the theatre, there were no soloists, just the corps de ballet.

 

Good to see something different, hope it's a success for them!

[Bluebird]

.  No cast lists were available but the 3 main names were posted up in the theatre, there were no soloists, just the corps de ballet.

 

 

 

This afternoon, Franz and Swanilda were not danced by the dancers named on the posters (Sobolevsky and Somova) .  If it hadn't been for a friend who'd checked the photos in her programme, I would never have known that the cast scheduled to dance this evening (Velichko and Mikirticheva),had actually danced this afternoon. 

Edited July 12, 2013 by Bluebird

[alison]

Not terribly respectful to the dancers, that, is it?

[aileen]

Well, as we're unlikely to see this again in London again any time soon I decided to go and see this afternoon's performance. I'm glad that I did because I enjoyed the choreography much more today (lots of fun little touches) and was really able to appreciate Domashev's performance in what is essentially a non-dancing role. There was both comedy and pathos in his character and the ending was really rather touching. Today, sitting in the dress circle, I was able to see the top of the building which considerably added to the set as there were little scenes in the upper windows which I had not been able to see yesterday. I felt that the corps was sharper today and there was more convincing interaction between the three leads, particularly between Swanhilda and Dr Coppelius. I liked both Swanhilda and Franz today. She acted really well and, whilst he did not have as much stage charisma as Polunin, he was still very good. Overall, I enjoyed today's performance more. Polunin's solo work was marvellous but his partnering was distinctly average and I do wonder whether his bad attitude had affected the mood of the company yesterday. It can't be much fun being around (or partnered with) someone who is so dismissive about the art form and the ballet which the company has come all the way to London to perform.

[Coated]

Both male leads (not too sure who danced after reading the info up thread) seemed to slip on the same bit of stage this evening. I assume they didn't grease the floor, but it seemed a bit unusual to see two rather sure-footed people slip that way.

 

Swanhilda was rather good tonight, Franz seemed to be dancing two different halves. He seemed somewhat nervous in the first half, and then returned with a lot of confidence for the second and upped his game significantly - his 'lift with twirl' of Swanhilda in the last scene was veeeery nice.

 

I think the comparison to French cabaret mentioned earlier on hits the nail on the head

[alison]

The slips weren't to the rear of the stage at the centre, were they?  That was where Shapran slipped on the first night.

[Bluebird]

(not too sure who danced after reading the info up thread) 

 

Yesterday's advertised casts were, indeed, switched round.  The evening performance was danced by Dmitry Sobolevsky and Natalia Somova. There was no announcement and I could find no indication, anywhere in the theatre, that the cast was other than advertised.

 

I found the performance delightful and liked it more than either of the previous two. I had enjoyed Sergei's performance the previous evening but found that the Sobolevsky/Somova partnership worked far better than Sergei's partnership with Kristina Shapran.

[helpop]

I don't think I'll be returning to Coppelia in a hurry, unless the other versions have a lot more to offer.  I found the group country dance scenes very tedious after a while - the choreography seemed very pedestrian and they didn't do anything to advance the story.

 

A good performance by the Stanislavsky however, with strong performances from Polunin and (I think) Mikirticheva.  It's a shame they weren't appearing in a better production - the Stanislavsky showed they could deliver strong dancing, sets and costumes, so lets hope they return next year with a more sophisticated ballet.  

[alison]

I don't think I'll be returning to Coppelia in a hurry, unless the other versions have a lot more to offer.  I found the group country dance scenes very tedious after a while - the choreography seemed very pedestrian and they didn't do anything to advance the story.

 

Don't worry, helpop, most of them do - in terms of both narrative and emotional hook.  And I agree with you about the choreography at that point.  It was a very strange production: seemed almost to be a "riff" on what Coppelia normally is.

[alison]

Having read the reviews, I see that Jann Parry describes the ballet as "heartless" for DanceTabs, and Judith Mackrell in the Guardian says it lacks choreographic depth and dramatic heart.  I totally agree with both.

[nottsballetlover]

I thought it was delightfully bonkers and I loved the little gaggle of pink-tutu'ed ballerinas nearly as much as Polunin's star-turn. I saw him for the first time today, and now understand what all the fuss is about.

 

Saw the Saturday matinee yesterday and agree with Coated's view above. I'm glad I got to see Polunin dance and I'm pretty sure his Swanhilda was Erika Mikirticheva (not Shapran as previously advertised) - great performances from them both. Dr Coppelius was I believe danced by Kirillov, judging from the photos on the company's website - he was excellent in the role.

 

Sergei is clearly exceptionally gifted as a dancer - his jumps come out of nowhere and he does have fabulous stage charisma. So I was very happy to be able to see him dance in anything.....

 

So yes, words like 'pleasant' spring to mind for this performance and I love the music score, wonderfully played yesterday by the ENB orchestra. However, I tend to prefer ballets that involve me emotionally and this was not one of those. I feel my only strong emotion was utter relief at Sergei appearing as scheduled (having travelled from Nottingham on a very hot day!!) - there was an almost audible collective sigh of relief yesterday in the audience at curtain up and there he was......

[aileen]

Alison, Coppelia is a bit of a 'heartless' ballet anyway in the sense that there's not really much beyond a frothy rom-com and what is essentially the quite unpleasant deception of an old, rather eccentric man (which I've always felt makes quite uncomfortable viewing). I found Dr Coppelius quite touching in this production. He's certainly the most developed character, which is perhaps not surprising as Petit created this (essentially non-dancing) role for himself. One of the reviewers suggested that the grey building represented a dolls house and that the corps dressed as soldiers and ballerinas was a nod to the toys found in a child's bedroom/nursery and to the dolls which appear in most traditional productions of Coppelia. Personally, the production grew on me and the second time I noticed lots of little things which I hadn't noticed the first time when I was rather overwhelmed by how different it was from traditional productions. I probably would have gone to see it again if I had not had other commitments. Anyway, everyone has his or her own tastes and views and I seem to be in a minority here in rather liking this production.

[aileen]

Nottsballetlover, did Sergei seem very emotional at curtain call? And what was his intereaction with his Swanhilda like?

[stephenK]

Just to confirm that Swanilda was performed by Erika Mikirtecheva at the Saturday matinee, in my view the most assured and suited of the three castings to the role and choreography. Coppelius was Nikita Kirillov - enjoyed his performance, although not sure he hit all the comic notes.

[stephenK]

aileen, I wouldn't say Polunin was emotional at the curtain call on Saturday. It was possibly the smallest audience I've seen for ballet at the Coliseum, certainly smaller than the evening performance when Velichko was impressive and possibly (almost) as well received as Sergei.

[aileen]

Oh, so there was another dancer dancing the Dr Coppelius role. Only Domashev was listed on the posters in the Coliseum. He danced at both of the performances which I saw (Thursday evening and Friday matinee).

[stephenK]

Yes, the casting information was frustrating to say the least, but they posted a revision to the original casting on the walls in the Coliseum. Quite by chance I managed to see all three Swanildas. Kirillov is listed as corp de ballet in the outrageously expensive and fairly uninformative programme!

[aileen]

Stephen, who did Velichko dance with on Saturday evening?

 

I'm surprised that the weekend matinees haven't sold well. I thought that a lot of parents, grandparents etc would take their (grand)children to Coppelia, whatever the production was like. With regard to adult ballet-watchers, I just don't think that the timing was right in a crowded year for overseas companies and with the Bolshoi arriving the same month. I think that with a relatively small cast and simple set the production would have worked equally well at Sadler's Wells. It's a shame for the dancers that they were performing to such poor audiences. On Friday afternoon the dress circle, even with heavy discounting, was well under half full. I don't know how full other parts of the theatre were. This year, with the exception of ENB's Nucracker and Sleeping Beauty (and Vasiliev and Osipova's Don Q) nothing has sold well at the Coliseum, even with heavy discounting (of admittedly higher ticket prices in the case of Boston Ballet and the Stanislavsky). Whilst I personally have relished the opportunity of seeing so many overseas companies my advice to any thinking of visiting in the future is to take a long hard look at the experiences of the visiting companies (including ENB) this year before embarking on a very expensive, and probably financially costly, visit to the Coliseum who, as we know, will happily take your money but do virtually nothing to promote your production.

[aileen]

The programme *was* outrageously expensive, but it was interesting to read that Petit gave (licensed?) ENB two of his ballets for free though as a favour to Peter Schaufuss when he was the company's AD.

[nottsballetlover]

Nottsballetlover, did Sergei seem very emotional at curtain call? And what was his intereaction with his Swanhilda like?

 

Aileen - I would describe the curtain calls on Saturday matinee as a bit flat and somewhat abrupt......I was sitting front row centre stalls so could see Sergei very close up. I sneaked a couple of curtain call photos and looking at them today, would not describe him as appearing 'emotional'.

 

His partnering of Mikirtecheva was technically assured, they seemed to be interacting as well as the somewhat ludicrous plot allows!