Delibes : Coppélia
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Paul Murphy
Just a few days after seeing Les Contes d'Hoffmann from the Met, here is another work using the same literary inspiration as Act 1 of the Offenbach opera. What a difference in mood, though, for the Delibes ballet is a lovely, sunny, boundlessly charming piece, with very few of the sinister undertones of the operatic Olympia, let alone the terrifying original. The Hoffmann source material, however, should never completely be forgotten, and a truly great performance of Coppélia will be able to hint at it in the second act. That was where this production missed the mark a little; there was no tension during that second act, no fear for the drugged Franz, no momentary flicker of doubt that there might actually be something to Dr. Coppelius's alchemy, just light-hearted and winsome cavorting. A pity, because otherwise there's much that is very pleasing in Sir Peter Wright's version of Coppélia, and the company certainly has the dancers for it.
Although I have seen Wright's production before, I've not seen this particular version; decors and costumes were new to me. I'm not sure I appreciated it as much as earlier versions. I found the decor for the first act a bit dark, the flooring for Act 3 seemed to induce unnecessary squeaks from the dancers' shoes, and the costumes couldn't quite make up their mind whether they were rustic 19th Century Central European or pastoral 18th Century French, though certainly pretty enough, either way. However, ultimately all that is just window-dressing, and what matters is the dancing, most of which was very good. There were some moments where the alignment in parts of the corps was a little out, and several where reactions seemed a touch sluggish, particularly in the face of some very lively playing from the orchestra under Paul Murphy - the oriental doll in Act 2 really needs to emerge from her box a bit more sharpish, for example - but otherwise they were good, the men looking particularly strong.
Dr. Coppelius was Jonathan Payn, limited by the production's too-frivolous take on this character to eccentric doddering, but the principal couple, Momoko Hirata and César Morales, were as fresh and endearing as one could wish Swanilda and Franz to be, he with plenty of easy swagger, she, thistledown light and sparky. Maureya Lebowitz was a saucy, smirking Gypsy in Act 1, while Oliver Till seized the opportunity to impress leading the "Call to Arms" sequence of the last act's divertissement. A very appealing evening's entertainment, therefore, in Birmingham Royal Ballet's performance - but room for improvement too.
[Next : 6th February]
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