Review of the ballet The Lady of the Camellias at the Bolshoi Theater

After two years and three months of absence, The Lady of the Camellias reappeared on the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi Theater – John Neumeier extended the license to show his performance. Attended the first performances Tatyana Kuznetsova.

The Lady of the Camellias, one of the main ballet melodramas of the 20th century, moved to the Bolshoi Theater in 2014. Its creator, John Neumeier, transferred his ballet to Moscow with the utmost care. The casting was carried out meticulously, not only his assistants worked with the dancers of the Bolshoi, but also the choreographer himself: they trimmed the smallest pas, details of mise-en-scenes and actor’s reactions. The ballet, staged back in 1978 in Stuttgart for prima Maria Heide, was called “cinematic” by Neumeier. A huge three-act performance to the music of Chopin rests on the main characters: Margarita and Arman, who received a magnificent duet in each act, almost do not leave the stage. However, Paris of the mid-nineteenth century is presented in detail and convincingly. Not materially (artist Jurgen Rose limited himself to furniture, historical costumes and accessories), but worldly atmospheric. Amusements, morals, characters, their relationships – all this was developed by the choreographer with the thoroughness of Stanislavsky. He endowed each hero with his own biography and the most detailed drawing of the role; in this “cinematic” ballet, each character is noticeable, and the ensemble of actors is called upon to act as a well-coordinated orchestra.

In the nine years that have passed since the Moscow premiere, the composition has been partially updated. And since the revival of the ballet took place without the participation of Neumeier and his tutors, the difference between the “former” and “newcomers” is visible to the naked eye. The artists nurtured by the choreographer were free, natural, at the same time meticulous in detail and sensitive to style; introduced – overplayed in facial expressions and gestures, fussed in mise-en-scenes, dirty small pas. The courtesan Prudence suffered the most. In this prominent role – with a variation in which the playful Prudence gallops on pointe shoes – Antonina Chapkina made her debut, a soloist with a huge lift, because of which, jumping on her fingers, she constantly risks twisting her leg – it is clear that there is no agility in her dance cannot be in principle. The second debutante, a smiling Maria Mishina with a sloppy foot and an affected facial expression, endowed her secular courtesan with the habits of a pioneer leader. Both of Duval’s fathers were also new, destroying the happiness of a couple in love in a detailed duet with Margarita. Yegor Khromushin was subtle and precise in this most important psychological dialogue, but former Prime Minister Ruslan Skvortsov was only serving his acting duty.

The introduction of the nervous, ardent and very clean dancing Klim Efimov to the role of Des Grieux was extremely successful (Manon and her cavalier are the characters in the Parisian performance that the main characters are watching). His Manon – sharp, sweeping, looking more like a fury than a courtesan, Angelina Vlashinets, who has been dancing this part since 2015 – rather hindered than helped her partner. In another cast, Maria Vinogradova (who also mastered the role in 2015) with her elegant adagio danced Manon with all the seductiveness and ambiguity required. Bon vivant Gaston Rieu at the newcomer Dmitry Vyskubenko shrunk to henpecked. And although the artist jumped with high quality, all his jumps could be given for one twisting of the whip between his legs performed by the “old man” Mikhail Lobukhin, dancing in the first cast, magnificent, albeit heavier.

In the title role, there were ballerinas selected by Neumeier himself. The royal Svetlana Zakharova behaved as if she were not a kept woman, but the patroness of the surrounding rich. And she danced and loved with the passion of the prima, over the past years she has not lost her form or skill, so the browser has nothing to add to the review nine years ago (see Kommersant dated March 23, 2014). Unless Zakharova had a different partner then. The current one, strong and tall Denis Rodkin, who has been dancing Arman since 2015, has clearly given up since then. The jumps were not high, the rounds were not clean, the upper lifts were rough – the jerks when lifting the lady from the shoulders to the outstretched arms were too noticeable. In fact, the role of Gaston Rieu, a playboy, which Rodkin received in 2014, is more suitable for this conceited dancer. The second couple – a ballerina with a fair amount of film experience Evgenia Obraztsova and one of Neumeier’s favorite soloists Artem Ovcharenko – seemed more textbook. The pretty, graceful, flirtatious Margarita and the handsome, thoughtful Arman made up a touching duet: the artists did not forget their former acting lessons, and the choreographic text was presented in an impeccably stylish and professional manner. However, this couple acted out only towards the end of the second act, but its ending and the entire third act of the melodrama were played with a tragic intensity.

Our “Lady of the Camellias” dropped out of the playbill in March 2021; in those days, the repertoire of the Bolshoi was filled with performances by noble choreographers – exclusive and transferred. John Neumeier was represented by his “Anna Karenina” – a fresh co-production of the Bolshoi with the Hamburg Ballet, the license for the middle-aged “Lady” was not renewed. After February 2022, the situation has changed dramatically: acting Western choreographers (or foundations of the deceased) do not cooperate with Russia, licenses for ballets expire one after another. The Bolshoi’s own hits like “A Hero of Our Time” or “Nureyev” are slaughtered by zealous patriots, the set of classics of the 19th century is almost exhausted, the productions of young authors do not stand up to criticism, recognized luminaries Vyacheslav Samodurov and Yuri Posokhov are unable to satisfy the rush demand. Under these circumstances, each renewed license becomes a local win.

“The Lady of the Camellias” is one of the main ones. And although the period of the new life of the performance on the stage of the Bolshoi is still unknown (according to Kommersant’s information, it will be determined next season), it is obvious that without the permission of John Neumeier, the Bolshoi Theater could not have shown the performance. And it doesn’t matter at all what exactly softened the position of the choreographer, who solemnly celebrated the end of his 50-year reign in the Hamburg Ballet this June. The main thing is that Muscovites can now see one of the best ballets of the legendary patriarch, and the artists can dance it.