Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake 24/01/2010, Sadler's Wells

I entered Sadler's Wells with high expectations. This is a much talked about and almost revered production, made famous by Adam Cooper's cameo at the end of the film Billy Elliott. And while there are undeniably some sublime moments of raw spine-tingling genius, I think Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake has been over-hyped. When it was first staged 15 years ago, it would have been novel in the extreme, but now it is practically more mainstream than many of the ballets at the opera house.

The first act is Swan Lake meets Paris Hilton, and I almost despaired. Dance theatre at it's cheapest, this act was overlong. The spoof 'ballet-within-a-ballet' punches accurately and gets some laughs from the ballet fans in the audience...(although I found myself getting a little indignant at the insinuation that traditional ballets are so ridiculous and trite - what a purist I am!). However, this spoof is basically the only attempt at dancing in the first forty-five minutes. Tedious.

Things pick up dramatically when the Swans appear following the Prince's attempt to commit suicide at the lake. They are a visual feast, and the energy that comes from the all-male cast is palpable. That said, as the choreography is not perhaps the most imaginative in the world, a tighter performance from the Swan ensemble would have vastly improved the performance. The best moments in this second act were undoubtedly the duets between the Swan (Richard Winsor) and the Prince. However, at the interval I felt that what I had seen thus far was basically a pastiche with a couple of hints of genius and nothing more. While Richard Winsor has some stunning arm movements and is clearly a very accomplished actor, at this stage I was still distracted by his surprising lack of instep, spoiling nearly all the lines in Matthew Bourne's choroegraphy.

Fortunately, the second half was far superior to the second (mostly because it didn't include the dire first act). The explosive sexual tension exuded when the Dark Stranger (Richard Winsor) arrives at the party is utterly compelling, as he swaggers around the stage, women swooning, while the Prince looks on in confusion and distress. The scene ends dramatically when the Dark stranger seduces the Queen, the Prince entirely loses the plot and there are gun shots a-plenty.

And then finally we reach the best bit of the night. As the Prince descends into a frenzy of madness and despair, the set suddenly becomes recognisable as the inside of a psychiatric institution of some kind; the enormous bed that we saw at the very beginning  now making a tom-thumb-like child of the whimpering
man buried among the many pillows. The swans suddenly take on their true-to-life (rather than ethereal fairy tale) nature, and aggressively writhe and contort around the Prince's room, tormenting him. The image you are left with is haunting, as the Prince is reunited with The Swan and weeps in his arms. This was great, chilling, psychotic, manic and could only have been done with male swans.

So what did I take home from the night? To me this was not really Swan Lake. The story doesn't much resemble the original, unlike a not dissimilar reworking that I saw done by the Bolshoi a few years ago. This is not necessarily a negative, but it just feels a little bit like Matthew Bourne wanted the male swans, so needed to somehow fit them into the framework of Swan Lake (cynical - perhaps to draw in the crowds?). There are too many different elements in one show - cheap 'Hairspray'-like dance theatre, coupled with chilling contemporary dance, and a dose of pastiche and satire. It clearly does it for some people, but as a whole production, doesn't work for me. I think I'll take the original Swan Lake, and remember this as some kind of interesting yet imperfect aberration.

La Bohème, The Royal Opera 07/01/2010

First visit to the ROH of 2010 and my first opera. Clearly, I am therefore by no means a connoisseur, so bear with me as I give my tuppence worth!

All acts are packed with famous arias and duets, and these were generally very well sung by what was in the most part a cast of young artists. As the two leads Rodolfo and Mimi, Ji-Min Park and Rebecca Evans, although perhaps lacking in romantic chemistry, gave solid vocal performances - some lovely floating top notes from Rebecca Evans in particular. They were well supported by the seasoned performer Chistopher Maltman as Marcello - his acting in particular distinguishing him from the majority of this young cast. The exception being Eri Nakamura as Musetta - who acted this fickle flirt-with-a-heart down to a tee. Perhaps the only weak performance came from Simone del Savio (Schaunard - a musician) who may have been having an off night, but somehow failed to project beyond the orchestra across the entirety of his vocal range.

So that's the cast, now the production and the opera itself. The set is truly spectacular - the Act III set drawing gasps of delight and spontaneous applause and gusty 'bravos' when the curtains reveal the snowy stage, with the gate made famous by the poster campaign at the back of the stage. Makes you realise how much the need for dance space limits the set in ballet productions. As for the plot, well it's hasty that's for sure, but if you can pad it out within your head you can get into the heart of the weighty emotions of act III. Rodolfo and Mimi fall in love extremely quickly, even by theatrical standards (I haven't seen any operas for comparison!), and then we don't see the intervening months of love before things begin to go wrong. Opera having words gives both the potential for wit, but also removes the scope for more abstract plot development, as is possible with dance. Therefore whilst I'm happily carried along by Manon and Des Grieux falling in love in one dance, there is something less believable about this happening in one song in opera. That said, it may be that this was due to a short-falling of the chemistry of this particular Rodolfo and Mimi, so I'll reserve judgement for now...

That sounds negative, which wasn't my intention. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, the music was great, the production is beautiful and Puccini is witty if a little cheesy. I will be back for more.

The Nutcracker, The Royal Ballet 16/12/2009

I think it is probably impossible not to enjoy the Royal Ballet's Nutcracker, which is probably why it is wheeled out every Christmas to a consistently packed auditorium. The performance I saw was a perfect concoction of festive, glittering gaiety, with some impeccable dancing and fantastic staging.

The first act takes place during the Stahlbaum family Christmas party, with the mysterious cloak-whirling magician Drosselmeyer (Gary Avis) arriving to give the young Clara (Iohna Loots) her christmas present - a nutcracker doll. Some wonderful character acting here from the inimitable Gary Avis, and from young Thomas Bedford as Fritz, Clara's brother. The whole Royal Ballet, from lower school through upper school to company is involved in this bustling party spectacle.

Of course, there is more to this nutcracker than meets the eye, and in fact, this is Drosselmeyer's nephew, turned into a doll by the wicked Queen of the mice, and the gift to Clara is Drosselmeyer's attempt to break the enchantment. After bedtime, the magic starts, a battle with the mice ensues, and the Nutcracker (Ricardo Cervera) takes Clara on a magical adventure through the Land of snow and the Kingdom of sweets. The national dances, including the entirely non-PC chinese dance, were thoroughly enjoyable although the Mirlitons lacked the oomph that had been evident so far, and just didn't quite get it right. Into the garden and Laura Morera danced with her usual commanding stage presence as the Rose Fairy, although unfortunately her escorts (Valeri Hristov, Ernst Meisner, Sergei Polunin and Yohei Sasaki) seemed to be having trouble staying in time both with each other and with the orchestra! In days gone by, in older productions, Clara and the Nutcracker hardly danced in Act II,  but in the revised production (which has been in use since 1999) the vibrant dancing of Iohna Loots and Ricardo Cervera is a delight, and keeps everything together in this act, weaving in and out of the dances as they join in some dances and watch in awe during others...

And never in more awe than when the Sugar Plum Fairy (Alina Cojocaru - pictured) and her Prince (Johan Kobborg) take to the stage. Dancing with such authority and flair both alone and together, these two really are one of the strongest partnerships around at the moment - I'm so happy Cojocaru is back from her injuries! I still can't quite get used to her with a blonde wig, but the Grand pas de deux had such energy and radiance that you couldn't tear your eyes from the stage.

The Nutcracker really is a festive treat, and an outing that is going to become a fixture in my Christmas calendar for years to come, particularly if I can see a lead cast as strong as this one every time.