Spartacus

Hermann Vogel "Death of Spartacus"

Bolshoi Ballet Spartacus  10 Aug 2019 14:00 Royal Opera House

Ever since I saw a streaming of the ballet from Moscow nearly 6 years ago  I have longed to see it on stage. I have had a long wait because few if any Western companies seem to perform the work and certainly no British ones.  This year, however, the Bolshoi included Spartacus in its London season so I traipsed down to London yesterday to see it.   The ticket in the centre of row G of the stalls wasn't cheap. Neither was the rail fare. The rail network was all over the place as a result of the high winds and the aftermath of Friday's power outage. Nevertheless, I can think of no better use of my time or a better way to spend my money.  I have been going to the ballet for nearly 60 years and see about 50 shows a year.  Rarely have I been more excited by a performance than I was yesterday by the Bolshoi's performance of Spartacus,

As I summarized the plot and discussed the background to the ballet in Spartacus - Streamed Direct to Wakefield 21 Oct 2013, I need not repeat them here. There is, in any case, a full synopsis on the Bolshoi's website and even a video of a performance of the whole ballet adapted for the screen featuring the incoming director of Birmingham Royal Ballet on YouTube.  The show that I saw yesterday featured Igor Tsvirko and Ruslan Skvortsov as Spartacus and Crassus and Margarita Shrayner and Ekaterina Krysanova as Phrygia and Aegina. 

I had already seen Tsvirko on screen in the peasant pas de deux in Giselle (see The Bolshoi does the Business - Giselle streamed from Moscow 12 Oct 2015), the jester in Swan Lake  (see Grigorovich's Swan Lake in Bradford 25 Jan 2015), Count Pepinelli in Marco Spada (see Marco Spada Streamed from Moscow 31 March 2014) and the jester in A Legend of Love (see The Bolshoi's "A Legend of Love" streamed from Moscow 27 Oct 2014).  Magnificent though he was on screen he is so much more impressive in person.  His strength and endurance are amazing,  Spartacus is a long ballet and he is on stage for most of the show.  There were frequent bursts of applause as he demonstrated that strength such as hoisting Shrayner into the air with one hand as though she were a feather.

The last time the Bolshoi came to London I saw Skvortsov dance Siegfried in Swan Lake  (see Grigorovich's Swan Lake in Covent Garden 31 July 2016).  Although I thought that the Bolshoi has better shows and other companies have better Swan Lakes I enjoyed Skvortsov's performance very much.  I listed Skvortsov as one of the outstanding male dancers of 2016. I had also noticed him in the screenings of A Hero of Our Time, The Bright Stream and The Golden Age.  Intensely good looking, his was the first face that appears on stage from the centre of a testudo stamping his feet and brandishing a fasces. Another dancer of prodigious strength and agility.

I cannot recall watching Shrayner dance before but she is beautiful. She has a face that communicates emotion like few others.  One of my friends who knows Spartacus well described it as a man's ballet. That is true because both the gladiators and legionnaires as well as the leading artists perform spectacular feats of endurance attracting ripples of applause throughout the show. But it is also a ballet about two strong women and Phrygia's role is by far the more dignified and graceful,  The one bit of the ballet that the British public knows well is the theme from the Onedin Line largely because the show was never off our TV screens when I was young. That is, of course, Phrygia's solo and pas de deux with Spartacus and I could not help rooting for a tissue as she danced that piece.

I was already a big fan of Krysanova before yesterday's matinee.  I loved her performance as Kathrona in Jean-Christophe Maillot's The Taming of the Shrew which is now one of my all-time favourite ballets (see Bolshoi's Triumph - The Taming of the Shrew 4 Aug 2016).  She was a great Kitri in Don Quixote which I saw on screen in April 2016.  Katharina and Kitri are heroines but Aegina is very different.  There is a telling scene immediately after the legions goosestep off to slay the slaves when Aegina appears goosestepping like the soldiers.  She had just lifted the defeated Crassus out of his despair after losing his fight with Spartacus, given him back his sword and filled him with a desire for vengeance.  I admire her all the more for that.

When you watch a show from the amphitheatre as I did when I was a Young Friend the auditorium seems cavernous.  When you sit a few rows from the orchestra the House is intimate.  You feel the audience around you.  When an audience fires up as it did yesterday there can be no experience in the theatre more thrilling.  Yesterday, the audience was boiling.  That brought out the best in the artists - the musicians under Pavel Klinichev as well as the dancers.  It was a performance that I think I shall remember for the rest of my life.

PS  I said that I was no British company had ever performed Spartacus but Sarah Lambert has sent me this footage of a rehearsal by Jenna Roberts & Iain Mackay of Birmingham Royal Ballet which suggests that I may be wrong.   At least bits of it appear to have been performed in Symphony Hall and Northampton.

Bolshoi's Triumph - The Taming of the Shrew

Ekaterina Krysanova as Katharina.

Vladislav Lantratov as Petruchio

Photo: Mikhail Logvinov
(c) 2014 Bolshoi Ballet, all rights reserved
Reproduced by kind permission of the company

Bolshoi Ballet, The Taming of the Shrew, Royal Opera House, 3 Aug 2016, 19:30


The Bolshoi Ballet has always been respected in this country but until last night I don't think it has ever been loved. There are many reasons for that, not least the fact that the company was seen as an instrument of Soviet soft power during the cold war coming to London as it did in the year the tanks rolled into Budapest. That may have changed with the London premiere of Jean-Christophe Maillot's The Taming of the Shrew for the audience really warned to the show. Standing ovations are quite rare in the Royal Opera House but when Maillot appeared to take a bow several members of the audience (including yours truly) felt compelled to rise.

I had seen a screening of this ballet earlier this year and of all the ballets that had been streamed from Moscow last year The Taming of the Shrew was one I had liked best (see Competition for Cranko: The Bolshoi's Taming of the Shrew streamed from Moscow 25 Jan 2016). I enjoyed it all the more upon seeing it live.

The cast that I saw last night was very much the same as in the cinema trnsmission. Ekaterina Krysanova danced the title role. Her Petrucchio was Vladislav Lantratov. Olga Smirnova was her sister and Artemy Belyakov was their dad. Georgy Gusev who had impressed me as the court jester in Swan Lake made an exceppent Grumio.

Although Cranko is my all time favourite choreographer and his Shrew had always been my favourite work there are features of Maillot's production that I think I prefer. It is an amusing and very fast moving ballet. The plot is tighter than Cranko's and the score is definitely more memorable. I love "Tea for Two" in the final scene. Cranko's work and Maillot's are very different but each has its strengths.

Seeing it on stage I was struck by the similarities with Northern Ballet's Romeo and Juliet  which had also been created  by Mailot. The sets were similar (not surprising as they were both designed by Ernest Pignon-Ernest) as was the lighting. I had not noticed those similarities when I saw The Taming of the Shrew on screen.  Audiences in the UK will have a chance to see what I mean when Northern's Romeo and Juliet goes on tour next month,

One of the pleasures of World Ballet Day is comparing the style of The Australian Ballet with the Bolshoi as the latter follows immediately after the former.  The Russians are usually strong on technique and the Australians on energy and vivacity. In yesterday's ballet the company danced like Australians as much as Russians and I can't think of  a better compliment than that.

Bolshoi's Don Quixote

Honoré Daumier's Don Quixote

Source Wikipedia

Bolshoi Ballet, Don Quixote, streamed live from Moscow, 10 April 2016

It is very easy to enjoy a performance of a ballet one loves. It is very much harder to enjoy a performance of a ballet to which one is indifferent. A good test of a company is whether such indifference can be overcome by the quality of its performance, Yesterday, by its performance of Alexei Fadeyechev's Don Quixote, the Bolshoi Ballet passed that test.

The reasons why Don Quixote has never appealed to me despite such choreographic pyrotechnics as Kitri's fouettés, Basilio's one handed lifts and fish dives are that the story is weak and except for the final pas de deux the score is undistinguished.  The libretto, which owes very little to Cervantes, is not very different from La Fille mal gardée, a much shorter, tighter and generally more entertaining work with its clogs and dancing poultry and Alain swept into the storm by his umbrella. Instead we have some dryads who, despite their prettiness, are something of an irrelevance as they interrupt the flow of the story.

What saved the ballet for me were primarily the performances of Ekaterina Krysanova and Semyon Chudin as Kitri and Basilio which were outstanding. There were also strong performances by Denis Medvedev, Anna Tikhomirova and Kristina Karasyova as Gamache, the street dancer and Mercedes.  There was some great character dancing by Alexei Loparevich as the Don, Roman Simachev as his squire and Andrei Sitnikov as Lorenzo.  If we must have dryads in this ballet, there could be no more delightful dryad queen than Olga Smirnova.  Other aspects of the show that I liked were the sets by Valery Leventhal, particularly the townscape in the first act and the windmills in the second. I also admired Elena Zaitseva's costumes.

The Royal Ballet now has its own version of Don Quixote which was staged by Carlos Acosta. I have not yet seen it on stage but I reviewed the HDTV transmission from Covent Garden in ¡Por favor! Don Quixote streamed to Huddersfield 17 Oct 2013.  I was somewhat underwhelmed by that production too and tried to work out why in More Thoughts on Don Quixote 29 Oct 2013. I can't decide whether I prefer the Fadeyechev version or Acosta's. On the whole I incline towards Fadeyechev who has simplified the work and improved its flow by cutting the tavern scene though he has included elements like the guitar dance and bull fighters without a bull that add nothing to the story.

Fadeyechev was interviewed in the first interval by Katerina Novikova who presents all the Bolshoi's transmissions.  Elegant and fluent in English and French she is a great asset to the company and one of the reasons why I have generally preferred the Bolshoi's transmissions to the Royal Opera House's. Fadeyechev spoke about those inclusions and the music of other composers that has been added to the score which are said to be unique to the Bolshoi.

Novikova also interviewed Makhar Vaziev who is described on the Bolshoi's website as "Ballet Director." He has recently taken over that job title from Sergei Filin who remains with the company as the "Director of Young Artists Ballet Program" though it is not clear from the articles by Ismene Brown Bolshoi abolishes Filin’s job 30 July 2015 Arts Blog and Makhar Vaziev appointed Bolshoi ballet head 26 Oct 2015 Arts Blog what either man's job description will be. Tactfully Novikova avoided that question and asked Vaziev about the differences between the Mariinsky where Vaziev started his career and the Bolshoi which he joined three weeks ago. Vaziev, who seems to be quite a jovial chap, replied that they both had their pluses and both had produced great artists. Galina Ulanova had started in St Petersburg and Maya Plisetskaya in Moscow. For those who are interested in that question, a more detailed answer is given in The Bolshoi Ballet (12 Aug 2010) by The Ballet Bag.

As the Bolshoi are coming to London between 25 July and 13 Aug 2016 (see Bolshoi Ballet Diamond Jubilee) I have found this season's HDTV season particularly useful for selecting what to see (see Live Performances streamed from the Bolshoi and Covent Garden 20 Sept 2015). If I lived in London and had all the time in the world I would have chosen to see all five shows. As I live 200 miles away and have a demanding albeit rewarding full time job I have to confine myself to two. I have chosen to see Swan Lake on 30 July 2016 and The Taming of the Shrew on the 3 Aug 2016. Even though booking has been restricted to Friends of Covent Garden many of the best seats for both shows seem to have been taken. I am not sure how many tickets will be left for the public when the tickets go on general sale later today.

Competition for Cranko: The Bolshoi's Taming of the Shrew streamed from Moscow

Standard YouTube Licence

Even before the housekeeper ambled on to the stage I could tell from the photos that we were in for a treat. They depicted Petruchio's loucheness in the way he wore his hat, the simple set and the timeless costumes. The housekeeper was first on stage well before the maestro. She was elegant, wearing heels, immaculately coiffed.  She sat down on stage to check her make up. She donned a pair of pointe shoes and filed her nails. Then when she was good and ready she ushered in the conductor.

The ballet was very short. It consisted of two acts.   The screening started at 15:00 GMT and we were out by 17:00 but it packed so much in. The dancing was magnificent, particularly the duet between Katherina and Petrtuchio in act II. There were some lifts movements I have never seen before. The most extraordinary was where Petruchio seemed to raise Katherina with his arm stretched like a piston as though she were riding a horse. It must have required enormous strength from him and I guess remarkably uncomfortable for her.

The score was by Dimitri Shostakovich and the choice was inspired. One of the greatest composers for the ballet ever.  Glorious soaring crescendos and humour with his orchestration of Tea for Two for the harmony of the last scene.  Of equal genius was the choreographer, Jean-Christophe Maillot, and his muse, Bernice Copieters who translated it into dance.  So too was Ernest Pignon-Ernest who designed the set and the choreographer's son, Augustin, who designed the costumes.  One of the highlights of yesterday's transmission was Katerina Novikova's interview with Jean-Christopher Maillot and Sergei Filin in the interval and it was there that Maillot acknowledged the contributions of his creative team.

The story kept pretty faithfully to the play with a little lot more prominence to the widow.  Bianco was all sweetness and  grace while Katherina was Scotch bonnet pepper - until she was bedded towards the end of the second act.  Katherina is the star. Hers is the title role and it required a dancer with exceptional technique who was also a remarkable actor. Yesterday that role was danced by Ekaterina Krysanova.  Her Petruchio had to be at least as strong and his role was danced by Vladislaw Lantratov. Olga Smirnova was a gorgeous Bianca. Anna Tikhomirova, .as the housekeeper was in many ways the anchor of the show from the prologue when she patronizingly clapped the entry of the conductor.  I must say a special work for Vyacheslav Lopatin, one of the best character dancers ever, who played Petruchio's groom. His eyes were a picture as he tossed a sheet over his master and bride.

I have often said that Pathe Live had the edge over the Royal Opera House's transmissions though the House has recently raised its game.  Yesterday's transmission from Moscow reached new heights with the interview with Filin and Maillot. It will be interesting to see how Covent Garden responds to the challenge.

The Bolshoi are bringing the Taming of the Shrew to London on 3 and 4 Aug 2016.   Here is a little clip on their YouTube channel. I can't wait to see them live on stage in that show.