Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. Orchestra AA103 ($81).
Conductor – Ormsky Wilkins; Conrad – Marcelo Gomes, Birbanto – Sascha Radetsky, Ali – Ethan Stiefel, Lankendem – Jose Manuel Carreno, Medora – Paloma Herrera, Gulnare – Maria Riccetto, Seyd – Victor Barbee.
Story: Slave girls are being sold by Lankendem at a noisy bazaar in Turkey. Pirate Conrad arrives and falls in love with Medora. The pasha Seyd arrives and buys Gulnare and Medora. Conrad instructs his slave Ali to steal Medora and the pirates kidnaps Lankendem. Conrad gets into an argument with his friend Birbanto about freeing the slave girls; Birbanto wants to start a revolt but is thwarted, he then gives a poisoned flower to Conrad via Medora to drug him into a sleep. Lankendem manages to steal Medora back and escapes. When Conrad wakes up Birbanto feigns ignorance. The pasha declares Medora will be his wife, falls asleep, and dreams of lovely women in a beautiful garden. Conrad, Birbanto, and other pirates show up in disguise and chase away the pasha and his guards. Medora exposes Birbanto for what he is and Conrad kills him. They all flee to the ship which is then capsized by a storm. The ballet ends with Conrad and Medora clinging to a rock and offering thanks for their miraculous survival.
Ballet remains a strange art form to me. To illustrate my point, some production credits (from Playbill). Staging by Anna Marie Holmes after Marius Petipa and Konstantin Sergeyev. Music by Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni, Leo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo and Prince Oldenrourg. Music reorchestrated by Kevin Galie. Libretto by Jules Henri de Saint-Goerges and Joseph Mazilier in a version by Anna Marie Holmes. Based on The Corsair (1814) by Lord Byron.
So, who wrote the music? Did the four composers get together to write the piece? Or did someone string the pieces together – and who is that someone? What is libretto in ballet? There were no words said during the entire show, except a couple of grunts. While the story hangs together well enough, it is mainly a series of excuses for the dancers to do their thing. For example, the three slave girls got to dance individually, in pairs, and as a trio (well, I may be exaggerating a bit).
I have no idea who is who in ballet, but the slave (only bare-chested fellow) drew a hearty applause from the audience when he first appeared, and Anne claims he is quite well-known. He didn't dance too many numbers, perhaps they were all technically demanding? I don't know. Anne was watching this PBS show about Nureyev, and he supposedly danced this role to great acclaim also. If precision is the hallmark of a great ballet troupe, then ABT isn't quite there. If it were an orchestra, there would be utter chaos. Quite a few young girls danced in this production, and many of them were able to stand on their toes, which I found quite impressive. The pasha provided some comic relief, even though he only had to walk.
In any event, the music was nice, the dance movements pleasing to the eye, and length of the program not too long, so it was an afternoon well spent.
One other thing, the audience. Naturally many children (I assume they are taking ballet lessons) attended the ballet, and the audience was therefore noisier. What I didn't expect was the readiness of people to take empty seats. It's quite okay with me, but we saw instances where people holding those seats hadn't left and everyone had to move back.
The New York Times review is quite interesting. I am glad I am correct in saying the ballet is mainly constructed so the dancers can show off their skills.
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