Royal Danish Ballet's new production of Swan Lake

[Jane S]

... opens tonight. As well as many photographs and videos on the company's website there's a new set of backstage pictures on a Danish newspaper site featuring the Susanne Grinde/Sebastian Haynes cast.

 

I think the set looks fabulous in the photos and I'm really looking forward to hearing about (and eventually seeing for myself) how it works in the theatre.

[Jane S]

First reviews: darkness triumphs and (spoiler alert) Siegfried marries Odile. But it looks magnificent.

 

Eva Kistrup

 

Vibeke Wern  (in Danish but Google translate gives you the gist - for 'to fracture' read 'as his bride')

[alison]

(in Danish but Google translate gives you the gist - for 'to fracture' read 'as his bride')

:ROFL: Good ole' Google Translate

[Mary]

It looks stunning! Thank you! Next google search Cheap flights to Copenhagen-someone has to review this for ballet forum after all...

[Jane S]

I saw a couple of performances of Nikolai Hubbe and Silja Schandorff's new production of Swan Lake in Copenhagen last week: there's a lot to like, which makes it all the more frustrating that Hubbe hasn't taken more care to work his plot ideas out properly.

 

I like the basic concept (as I understand it): the King has died and Siegfried is acknowledged as his heir but must prove his worth before he's actually crowned; meanwhile the chancellor, von Rothbart, is scheming to gain power by marrying his daughter to the young prince. (Quite a familiar story from television and film these days.) Hubbe sets some of this up in the opening moments but from then on he leaves so many loose ends trailing that it's very distracting, and ultimately annoying. For instance I think  I've picked up somewhere that the Jester represents one side of Siegfried's character, but you would never ever work that out from the staging and the sole purpose of the Jester actually seems to be to fill out the bits of music that are too cheerful and jumpy to be assigned to anyone else. (The problem with every attempt to modify the story is that no-one told Tchaikowsky...)

 

The company is using the Opera House rather than the old theatre for Swan Lake and the new sets look wonderful there. (There are lots of photos and videos on the theatre's website ) They are completely unrealistic geometric structures, beautiful in themselves and completely successful in this context - and I have to say that it will be quite a shock to get back to trees and rocks and things next time I see a traditional production. They move around to suggest different locations but never while there is serious dancing going on. The Opera House has a very high proscenium opening and from the stalls you can look up and up and see the criss-cross structures stretching up into the darkness - it's like looking up in a dark old cathedral. One problem though is that the stage is very deep and some of the action would make more impact if it was played further downstage. The whole evening is beautifully lit (the designer is Mikke Kunttu, and the Elizabethan-ish costumes are by Mas Stensgaard) and if you had the misfortune to turn up some night and find that all the dancers had been stranded in fog at some airport, you could really have a very enjoyable evening just listening to the music (very well conducted by Vello Pähn - I love his phrasing in the overture and the way he keeps up the tempo - no dirge-like Act 2 pas de deux here)  and watching the scenery.

 

Most of the choreography is attributed to Hubbe and Silja Schandorff 'after Petipa and Ivanov': the Act 1 pas de trois, most of Act 2 and the Black Swan pas de deux look more or less untouched (though some of the pd3 looks  bizarre to my Royal Ballet trained eyes); the prince's solo in Act 1 is by Erik Bruhn; and the national dances in Act 3 have been entrusted to two of the dancers. The Hubbe/Schandorff sections are respectable enough, and rather more than that in some of Act 4; Oliver Starpov's Russian Dance would make a perfect gala number some time, and Gregory Dean's Neapolitan pas de trois is witty and interesting.

 

The RDB is stretched by a big piece like this and everyone, principals included, is kept very busy - for instance on both the nights I was there one of the Neapolitan princess's near-interchangeable escorts was a dancer new to the company this season and the other one was Alban Lendorf. Jon Axel Fransson and Jonathan Chmelensky alternated as Von Rothbart (a big dancing role) and Benno - Fransson goes for everything and is exciting to watch even when he doesn't quite make it, Chmelensky is quieter but his von Rothbart was possibly slightly the more scary. The corps de ballet of swans was outstandingly good - one of the highlights of the evening.

 

I saw two casts in the leading roles: Ida Praetorius with Marcin Kupinski and Caroline Baldwin with Andreas Kaas. All except Kupinski were making their debuts. Praetorius got most of the pre-opening publicity - she is clearly being promoted as a future ballerina and it's easy to see why. Her dancing is lovely but she's still very young and her inexperience in building such a major role showed somewhat in Act 2 - much against expectations she made a much stronger impression as Odile. Both she and Kupinski might perhaps look better with different partners - Kupinski with a more sophisticated Odette and Praetorius with someone whose acting style was a better fit with her own.

 

Baldwin was a surprise in the opposite direction - I'd expected her strong Odile but was  pleasantly astonished by her Odette - lovely clear, simple dancing and and excellent rapport with her partner. Kaas was wonderful, starting with a beautifully controlled and elegant account of the Bruhn solo and following that with as touching an account of Act 2 as I've seen in a long while. Completely in love from the first moment, he never took his eyes off Odette and partnered her with such tenderness and wonder - it was as if he knew how to tame a wild hawk and guessed that the same thing would work here, persuading her gradually to trust him. It's a very young man's interpretation and I guess he may well have grown out of it even by the next run of the production, but I'm really happy that I saw him at this stage!

 

I have another cast to see later on in the run and am looking forward to it despite the shortcomings of the staging.

 

(posted also on another board - sorry if that's against the rules!)

 

[Jane S]

Sorry - I forgot I'd already opened this thread and have put some comments on a new one

[alison]

I've merged the two threads. Thanks, Jane.

[Bruce Wall]

Thanks so for this wonderful review, Jane.  The sets and lighting for this production from the many photographs in the link you so kindly provided do indeed look lushly luminous.  The cathedral effect you define is clearly obvious even to a distant reader.  Bless you.  

Edited April 7, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[Fonty]

The scenery for Act II looks wonderful.  

 

However, I hope I don't ruin it by saying the first thing that popped into my head was the image of Conchita Wurst singing the Pheonix song from Eurovision last year. 

 

For those who don't know what I am talking about, at some point the backdrop to the song showed beating wings. 

[Jane S]

Correction, with apologies: the costume designer's name is Mia Stensgaard.