I went to this production from the Royal Ballet last week. The music is by Ferdinand Hérold, 'freely adapted and arranged by John Lanchberry', with choreography by Frederick Ashton. This was programmed as part of the Ashton 100 celebrations.
Although I have enjoyed ballet since I was a small girl, I am not terribly knowledgable, but just for the record I will note that the cast included: William Tuckett as Widow Simone; Marianela Nuñez as Lise (her daughter); and Carlos Acosta as Colas (the daughter's lover). The TV cameras were there, and it is due to be shown on Saturday 19 February. At the moment I can't recall if it is BBC2 or BBC4. Regardless, I would highly recommend it.
A lot of people are put off ballet because they have visions of simpering anorexics in pretty pink tutus. In truth, at their very best, top ballerinas in tutus can be a visual delight. However, there wasn't any of that in this, anyway.
Basically, it's a pantomine. The clue being that the main character is a man dressed as a woman. They played it for laughs, and there were plenty of those. Although perhaps not as many as you might have thought by the constant forced chortling of someone sitting near to me- where I could not identify. But I laughed spontaneously out loud quite a few times.
Much of the music is unfamiliar to me, although there is one very famous piece, the Clog Dance. As the first notes started, a loud stage whisper from the bowels of the amphitheatre was heard to exclaim "This is the best bit!" People of a certain vintage will remember this as the theme tume to 'Face the Music'.
The sets struck me as being quite naive - indeed the first act set was mainly painted flats. I don't know whether this was done for effect, or whether to remain true to the original production, or whether this is normal in ballet.
The costumes were lovely, in bright, clear nursery - primary and secondary - colours. I was suitably impressed by the dancers, especially the three leading dancers.
But the absolute star of the show as far as I was concerned was this lovely little Shetland Pony who came on towards the end of the first half. Up to waist height on an average adult. An absolute trooper with a docile temperament, it didn't shit on the stage, which has always to be a consideration when working with animals, I would have thought. It had a very hairy tummy so I don't know if it was a boy pony or a girl pony. I expect it gets a lot of acting engagements.
To conclude, I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I don't have a clue whether critically and relatively it was good, bad or indifferent.
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