By way of introduction, although completely unrelated to the actual ballet; this was my first visit to Blackpool's aptly named Grand Theatre, and it is magnificent! Matcham's unmistakable lovely architecture is omnipresent, still resplendent in this 1894 building. And with some very helpful and friendly FOH staff, it made the experience all the more wonderful.
This was the second time I have seen the Varna International Ballet company, having already had the pleasure of watching their 'Nutcracker' at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester earlier this year. Here though, the opulent surrounds of the theatre helped enormously in creating the correct milieu for a very traditional production such as this.
The company utilised minimal set. The first half was nothing more than 2 doors at either side of the stage, whilst the second act was even simpler, with a single grave stone - positioned far too deep into the SR wings sadly - but enabled the full stage to be used for the corps. A screen at the rear of the stage gave more depth and context to both acts, and the CGI wilis in the second act worked nicely.
The choreography and costuming was kept extremely traditional, no risks or deviations taken, making this a rather rigid ballet, but most certainly fulfilling both the composer's original intent and following the classical ballet structure.
Adolphe Adam's score is delightful; known for his ballet music, the resulting sounds could perhaps be said to be a mix between J Strauss II and Schubert had both been French! Tonight's orchestra, much reduced due to the touring requirements, was in the pit and conducted by Stefan Boyadzhiev.
An international line-up of soloists danced the principal roles this evening, with Claire Gillard impressing in the title role. Count Albrecht (Marco Di Salvo) coming very much into his own in the second act. I enjoyed the energy and focus of Pierre Gaston as the Forrester. The second act heavily features the corps, who remain on stage more or less the entire act. Heading the corps (playing the roles of the Wilis) were Megan Reid and Pauline Faget, whilst Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, was danced by Francesca Busquets. Perhaps just a little more precision and dynamic force was required from the corps this evening. In fact, the whole cast was lacking a certain something, perhaps we could call it 'oomph'; with just a little more direction / focus / energy this could easily have been a stunning production; as it was, it was still a very good one.
As with 'Nutcracker', enjoyable, traditional, and proficiently danced.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 13.1.23
on - 13.1.23
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