Paquita. POB. 2003.

Watch The Performance Here:

http://youtu.be/3VkttduC9gc

This is from the world of ballet before Swan Lake. The melodies are tuneful and immediately forgettable, lots of accented beats,
charm frothing from the orchestra pit like a bubble bath. The story is preposterous nonsense,
but the final-act wedding festivities make for a happy ending with lots of anything-you-can-dance-I-can-dance-better splash and dash.
Much of Marius Petipa’s trademark choreography is included, the fouettés ad infinitum, so the viewer is assured of a visual spectacle.
The Paris Opera Ballet has not only rescued this work from near extinction, but has given it a first-class production.

The original score was composed by Edouard Deldevez in 1846 for the Paris Opera. A year later Petipa produced the ballet for his debut in St. Petersburg.
In 1881, Petipa asked Ludwig Minkus to compose a new Pas de trois and a Grand Pas to be appended to the second act.
Ironically, Minkus’s additions achieved greater popularity than the complete work.
Paquita had fallen into such obscurity by the mid 20th century that it is not included in the 1950 edition of The Victor Book of Ballets and Ballet Music,
a volume that gives plot synopsis of 126 works, many of them on the fringe of the repertoire. Balanchine’s volume of 101 Ballet Plots also excludes Paquita.
Even the Minkus additions, which were often produced independent of the full work, were ignored in these otherwise comprehensive volumes.

Brigitte Lefèvre, ballet director of the Paris Opera, and Pierre Lacotte, choreographer, felt that the work was worthy of revival.
Lacotte knew people who had valuable knowledge of the work, and was able to draw on Petipa’s and Joseph Mazillier’s original choreography to reconstruct the dances.
David Coleman revised and completed the score. The result is a joyous event, an evening in the theater filled with happy, tuneful music and exciting dancing.
The sets and costumes are colorful and attractive (this is a very traditional production),
the ballet is cast throughout with talented dancers who not only bring great technical expertise to their roles, but also infuse the characters with distinctive personalities.

The plot is a bit tricky to follow by merely watching the production. It is helpful, almost necessary, to read the synopsis in the accompanying booklet.
Here’s the story in brief: Lucien is obligated to marry Serafina, who’s considered a good match. A band of gypsies arrives.
Their leader, Iñigo, wants to marry Paquita, but Paquita has some mystery concerning her uncertain past.
She has a locket containing the portrait of her deceased father, a man she never knew. Iñigo steals the locket so no one will discover her true identity,
especially Lucien, who is much more interested in Paquita than in his fiancée Serafina.
Let’s skip to the end: the locket is recovered (people in plays never destroy incriminating evidence), and lo and behold, Paquita is not a gypsy after all.
She’s the daughter of Charles d’Hervilly, a nobleman who was slain in a massacre precedent to act I. This news improves her marital eligibility.
Lucien dumps Serafina and all dance happily ever after.

Agnès Letestu, José Martinez, and Karl Paquette are outstanding as Paguita, Lucien, and Iñigo, respectively.
Three members of the company deserve praise for their featured work in the act I Pas de trois.
The choreography throughout the ballet is inventive and interesting, and frequently exhilarating.

Dancers:
Paquita - Agnes Letestu
Lucien d'Hervilly - Jose Martinez
Inigo - Karl Paquette
Le General, Comte d'Hervilly - Richard Wilk
La Comtesse - Celine Talon
Don Lopez de Mendoza - Jean-Marie Didiere
Dona Serafina - Beatrice Martel

Jewels. POB. 2005.

Watch The Performance Here:

http://youtu.be/Xw-FfxvfBIE

Balanchine's three-part, evening-long ballet, Jewels, is one of the jewels of his output.
Created in 1967, Jewels revisits the central pillars of his glorious career.
Thus, the first of the trio, Emeralds, to music by Fauré, is an homage to the French school of ballet;
a Romantic episode in which soft-core lyricism comes to the fore.
The second ballet, set to Stravinsky, Rubies, celebrates American dance virtues, filled with sexy Broadway and jazz references.
Finally, Diamonds, with music from Tchaikovsky, takes us to Mr. B's roots in St. Petersburg with a dazzling tribute to Russian ballet tradition.
Each of the works is pure Balanchine, full of the abstract stage patterns, novel arm and feet movements, and virtuoso fireworks typical of his style.
Jewels  is superb in this video taken from live 2005 performances of the National Opera Ballet in its home playing field, the jewel box of Paris' Palais Garnier.
The French company excels in meeting Balanchine's demands.
All the featured principals turn in breathtaking performances and the highlight may be the way they turn Diamonds, which often goes flat in performance, into a thrilling experience.

Cinderella. POB. 2008.

Watch Cinderella Part 1. Here:

http://youtu.be/ypcYrpZDspw

Watch Cinderella Part 2. Here:

http://youtu.be/dBstYNCP7uU

A sumptuous package.

Cinderella was started in 1940 after Prokofiev had developed a greater interest in ballets following
the success of Romeo and Juliet. He broke off work on it in 1942 to compose patriotic pieces and eventually
War and Peace. Cinderella was intended from the beginning to be a full-length classical piece and was finally
premiered, with Ulanova in the title role, in 1945. It immediately became a staple and quickly traveled to
other countries. In England, the character additions of Sir Frederick Ashton are legendary and have been adopted
almost everywhere.

The production here was created in 1986 by Rudolf Nureyev. He originally wanted to produce Cinderella in
classic 17th century style and rejected the idea of set designer Petrika Ionesco that the work be set
in Hollywood in the 1930s. However, Nureyev could not get this idea out of his mind and once the
two got started all of Nureyev’s love of the movies came into play. The Prince becomes a Movie Star,
the Fairy Godmother a Hollywood producer and Cinderella eventually wins both the Movie Star and a film contract.
In between there are many allusions to 1930s movies and even a couple of scenes shot to appear as if on screen.
Yet the basic story is intact and Nureyev was scrupulous in his use of Prokofiev’s music.

While the staging in this production is imaginative, I found that the darkness appropriate to Act I continued
inappropriately throughout the opera. However, the evocation of Hollywood in the Golden Age in Act II
was charming. The costumes were all by Hanae Morae and very good. Agnès Letestu was an alternately winsome
and glamorous Cinderella. Indeed she goes from one to the other almost instantaneously. Her evocations of
Hollywood figures are marvelous. Yet at the same time she can be quietly elegant. I found José Martinez
less stimulating as the Movie Star. Technically he was excellent, but he seemed to lack the spirit of a matinee idol. Laëtitia Pujol and Stephanie Romberg were by turns threatening and grotesque as the sisters, more grotesque than most. Stéphane Phavorin stood out as the wicked stepmother - truly a distinctive and varied performance. Finally, Wilfried Romoli excelled in the part of the Producer. He learned this role - more acting than dancing - from Nureyev himself and one’s eye is on him at all times. The corps de ballet is very good, especially in their Hollywood roles.

Aside from the usual synopsis and cast gallery this two-DVD package includes a film by Rainier Moritz
entitled Cinderella Goes Hollywood. This includes interviews with Ionescu, ballet director Brigitte Lefèvre
and all the principals. Both the motivation behind each performance and Nureyev’s choreography are thoroughly
explored. There is also an extensive booklet with notes by Rainier Moritz that adds further information.
In all a sumptuous package.

-- William Kreindler, MusicWeb Internation


Cinderella – Agnès Letestu
The Movie Star – José Martinez
The Sisters – Laëtitia Pujol, Stéphanie Romberg
The Mother – Stéphane Phavorin
The Producer – Wilfried Romoli

Paris National Opera Ballet
Paris National Opera Orchestra
Koen Kessels, conductor

Rudolf Nureyev, choreographer

Recorded live at the Palais Garnier, Paris, on 24, 26,and 28 April 2008.