DVD/150: MANON (Ross McGibbon, 2018, tv)

Kenneth MacMillan's 1974 ballet of the notorious novel of lost innocence was greeted with critical disapproval but remains an audience favourite and was filmed during it's 2018 revival.

MacMillan wanted a new production to showcase both his stars and the Royal Ballet ensemble and the tragedy of Manon proved ideal.

Convent girl Manon meets student des Grieux at an inn and - obviously - fall in love immediately.  They flee to Paris as a rich man, Monsieur GM, approaches Manon's brother Lescaut offering money for her...

Despite her affection, Manon is enticed by Monsieur's riches.  This sets in motion a chain of events that lead to the high life but also transportation and death.

Any difficulty in emotionally engaging with the relentlessly shallow characters is offset by MacMillan's breathtaking choreograpy.

Sarah Lamb is sparkling but remote as Manon and Vadim Muntagirov matches her intensity in the couple's wonderful three pas de deux.

Shelf or charity shop?  Def shelf. Although the characters are never sympathetic, MANON is a wonderful tribute to the genius of MacMillan.  The supporting cast include classy performances from Itziar Mendizabel as Lescaut's salty mistress, Gary Avis exudes menace as Monsieur, and James Hay shines as the lead beggar in the opening scene.  Sadly Ryoichi Hirano is fairly one-note as the conniving Lescaut, his 'drunk' dancing in the brothel scene has been done better.  What is remarkable is that although Jules Massinet wrote an opera based on MANON, MacMillan chose to use a whole new score based around other music by the composer; it was done so skilfully by Leighton Lucas that you would never guess it was not a proper score.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY at Covent Garden - Wakey Wakey!

I think we were very brave returning to Covent Garden as our last visit to The Royal Ballet saw us witness the heartbreak of Steven McRae injured mid-performance during MANON.  Happily  I can report that we counted all the dancers onto the stage and we counted them all off safely.  More importantly, it was a real pleasure to see THE SLEEPING BEAUTY again, still a jewel in the RB's crown.

It has been around for such a long time that quite a few names can claim some ownership of it.  Originally created in 1890 by legendary Russian choreographer Marius Petipa, his original Imperial Ballet production 'bible's were smuggled out of Bolshevik Russia by Nicholas Sergeyev who staged his own production at Sadler's Wells in 1939.

In 1947 Ninette De Valois' Sadler's Wells Ballet company were given the honour of becoming the permanent dance company at Covent Garden - which had been a dance hall during WWII! - and she decided that, to match the building coming back to life, her first production would be Petipa's THE SLEEPING BEAUTY with picture-book designs by Oliver Messel.

De Valois' production stayed in the repertoire for over 20 years then several new productions replaced it until the Dame's was brought back, redirected by then-Royal Ballet Director Monica Mason with Christopher Newton, in 2006 to celebrate the Royal Ballet's 75th Anniversary and it has stayed ever since; however it has since interpolated certain choreographed contributions from Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir Anthony Dowell and Christopher Wheeldon.

As I said it is still going strong - we saw it's 910th performance - but again I find it strange to be seeing a production that is relatively the same as has been done for years; no matter how acclaimed a theatre production, they are rarely revived after more than a year.  It would be nice if someone could look at the tired 'pantomime' actions between the dances; it does rather turn into dance for the deaf with the gesticulations for beauty, sleep etc.

As I said Steven McCrea was injured during the run of MANON so Prince Florimund was danced by Reece Clarke and Akane Takada was off too so Aurora was danced by Fumi Kaneko who really rose to her challenge of the famous Rose Adagio, a dazzling display of movement, balance and stillness as Aurora dances with four visiting princes.

There was fine support from the marvellous Itziar Mendizabal dancing the role of The Lilac Fairy exquisitely, Christine Arestis was very boo-able as the Wicked Fairy Carabosse, and a special mention for James Hay as the always leaping and spinning Bluebird in the finale.  Tchaikovsky's remarkable music sounded lustrous under the baton of Simon Hewitt.

I had been in two minds about seeing THE SLEEPING BEAUTY when it was obvious that Steven McRae would not be dancing but I am glad I did - the many artists who worked down the years to make it created a legendary classic.

THE FIREBIRD / A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY / SYMPHONY IN C at Covent Garden - Rushin' Russian

In a recent blog I mentioned that The Royal Ballet's mixed programmes can sometimes be a tricky balancing act but no such problems with their last of their season, three ballets with a markedly Russian theme.

First we had Mikhael Fokine's 1910 sensation THE FIREBIRD which marked a number of firsts: the first ballet score by Igor Stravinsky, the first original work that Diaghilev's Ballets Russes had presented in Paris, and the first based on Russian folklore.  The Royal Ballet is using Natalia Goncharova's stage designs for the Ballets Russes 1926 revival and they add a whole unexpected level to the piece.

THE FIREBIRD made it's London debut at the Opera House in 1912 and it was also a big success.  That connection amazingly continues to this day: the original Firebird was danced by Tamara Karsavina - a role which catapulted her to the Ballets Russes top table - and she in turn coached Margot Fonteyn in 1954... who coached Monica Mason in the late 1970s... and who is now on hand to help the new generation; I think it's only in ballet that you can find connections like this.

The plot is minimal: Tsarovich Ivan captures the mythical Firebird while hunting in a hidden part of the forest but she persuades Ivan to free her in exchange for one of her feathers which will summon her should he ever be in danger.  Ivan discovers a group of princesses captured by the evil Magician Koschei and falls for the most beautiful but is quickly surrounded by Koschei's army of enslaved humans.  He waves the magic feather and The Firebird appears to confuse and confound Koschei's army who all collapse in exhaustion; the Firebird also shows Ivan where Koschei keeps a magic egg which holds his immortal soul.  Ivan smashes it and frees the enslaved people who stage a magnificent wedding ceremony for Ivan and his princess.

The tale might be trite but Stravinsky's thumping score sounded fresh and vivid and Christopher Carr's staging is an excellent showcase for Fokine's intriguing choreography and the elaborate staging of the climactic ceremonial procession where row after row of costumed extras fill the stage, it might not be ballet but it certainly is a spectacle!  It was great to see a favourite dancer Itziar Mendizabal playing the lead role of the flashing Firebird; she was imperious while always in fluttering flight.  It was just a shame that The Firebird doesn't make an appearance at the coronation.  There was a bit of a "whoops" moment when Nehemiah Kish's Ivan was brandishing the magic egg to the ensemble... and the top fell off and rolled across the stage!

The mood changed totally for the next ballet, Frederick Ashton's 1976 adaptation of the Turgenev play A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY.  As elaborate and colourful as THE FIREBIRD was, Ashton's A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY was nuanced and intimate. 

As in the play, Natalia Petrovna rules her country home with a charming grace, adored by her husband Ysiaev, her son Kolia, her ward Vera and their close friend Rakitin.  Her life is turned upside down however when her son's new tutor arrives, the handsome student Baliaev.  He returns Natalia's affections but when Vera discovers them together, she jealously alerts the whole family to their subterfuge; Baliaev and Rakitin leave the house and Natalia is left alone with her lovelorn feelings.

Dame Peggy Ashcroft told Ashton that his version of the play was better than the original play and at only 40 minutes it certainly doesn't waste time getting on with the central plotline.  It has Ashton's clean, classic tone and economic story-telling, leaving it to the dancers to interpret his characters with the depth they need, but he also provides delightful solos for others including a character dance for Natalia's son Kolya, created for Wayne Sleep and danced splendidly here by Luca Acri.

It is a haunting cameo of a ballet, perfectly matched to a selected score of music by Chopin. The cast were all fine: David Hallberg was good as the tutor Baliaev as was Meaghan Grace Hinkis as the impressionable Vera.  But the heart of the ballet was provided by the remarkable Natalia Osipova - languorous lady of the manor at the start, she slowly blossomed into a woman in love only to be left crushed and alone, slowly walking towards an uncertain future.  It is remarkable that only three weeks ago she was the vengeful and tragic Medusa.

Last was George Balanchine's stupendous SYMPHONY IN C, a celebration of classical ballet and it's dancers.  We saw this last year where it joyfully stood out in a rather dour mixed programme but here it complemented the previous two very well.  

Danced to a score by Bizet, Balanchine originally premiered it in Paris in 1947 but he re-choreographed it for New York City Ballet the following year.  Balanchine was inspired by his early years dancing first with the Russian Imperial Ballet and then his years with the Ballet Russes during the 1920s.

Four couples dance to four different movements and Balanchine provides a whirlwind of pure classical technique: it's like every classical ballet finale only in abstract - no narrative, no named characters - so you can relish the solos, pas de deux and ensemble routines.  With over 50 dancers all dancing in unison onstage as it reaches it's conclusion, it is wonderfully thrilling.

All in all, a wonderful night of ballet which helped having the cohesive Russian feel. Ironically, the Royal Ballet will be having a rest over the summer months while The Bolshoi Ballet jet in from Russia for a season, but this was an evening to savour.

ROMEO AND JULIET at Covent Garden - Grief so Brief

“O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon..." or your favourite dancers.

It is now four years since we discovered the Royal Ballet's wonderful repertoire and one of the first productions we saw was Kenneth MacMillan's classic Shakespeare adaptation ROMEO AND JULIET with Steven McRae dancing Romeo.  Steven soon became our favourite male dancer, a performer with real star quality, and when it was announced he was dancing the role again this year, tickets were snapped up.  However on his last day of filming CATS, McRae had a knee injury which required a surgical procedure.  "Romeo, Romeo... wherefore art thou Romeo?"  He's resting his knee that's where he is.  This is sad as we also missed him last year in SWAN LAKE and MANON through being out injured.  Anyway where were we?  Oh yes, "Two households both alike in dignity..."

McMillan's production originated in 1965, his first full-length work for the Royal Ballet.  He had expanded a pas-de-deux filmed for Canadian TV with the young pairing of Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable and was determined they would be his original star-crossed lovers.  But the production was due to tour the USA after it's premiere and the American promoter wanted the star wattage of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev and the Royal Ballet management gave in, so Gable and Seymour were demoted to the second cast and even had to teach the two more famous dancers some of the moves which must have been particularly galling.  McMillan felt betrayed by the decision and left the Royal Ballet the next year to run the ballet company at the Deutsche Ballet in Berlin.  He would return to Covent Garden as the Artistic Director in 1970 but resigned seven years later to be the company's principal choreographer.

I still find it remarkable that a production can remain for 54 years in a repertoire - no matter how hard you look you will not find Franco Zeffirelli's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING or Peter Wood's LOVE FOR LOVE at the National Theatre or Peter Hall's THE HOMECOMING at the Royal Shakespeare Company.  But it's a minor quibble as ROMEO AND JULIET is still a glorious creation, involving from the start with a thrilling choreographed sword fight in the city square which ends with five dead bodies piled up centre-stage, McMillan's Verona is always a hair's breath away from danger.

John B Read's lighting and the original evocative set design by the late Nicholas Georgiadis combine to give you an immediate understanding of place while McMillan's truly thrilling choreography is realized by Julie Lincoln and Christopher Saunders.  Sergei Prokofiev's score sounded excellent played by the Opera House orchestra under the baton of Paul Murphy.

Steven McRae's replacement was Ryoichi Hirano and Juliet was danced by Akane Takada - who always seems to be on when we visit.  Hirano was technically fine but was dramatically colourless; Takada embodied the full arc of Juliet, delicate and joyful at the start, troubled and passionate in love and death at the end.

As usual, there was fine support from James Hay and Bennet Gartside as the deadly rivals Mercutio and Tybalt, Kristen McNally and Thomas Whitehead were fine as Juliet's controlling parents, and there was great scene-stealing from the vivacious strumpets led by Itziar Mendizabal.

Despite Steven McRae's absence, ROMEO AND JULIET was wonderful to see again and to relive Kenneth McMillan's creative genius.

LES PATINEURS / WINTER DREAMS / THE CONCERT at Covent Garden - light and shade...

My last visit to the Royal Ballet this year was to see another of their mixed programmes, curated to celebrate three great choreographers: Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan and Jerome Robbins.  As usual it was also a perfect opportunity to show the breadth of talent across the Royal Ballet company.

First was Ashton's LES PATINEURS which debuted in 1937 and is set to music by the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, a composer whose operas have fallen out the repertoire but his themes were wonderfully arranged by Constant Lambert into a fizzing, whirling delight.  At only 35 minutes it's an almost perfect cameo of ballet pleasure.  The Royal Ballet are still using the original designs by William Chappell and it almost took your breath away when first seen - a glorious Victorian Christmas illustration come to life, each colour popping off the stage.

A group of 15 dancers dance/skate across the stage in various combinations: a group of eight dancers in red and blue give way to three couples in reddish-brown, blue and white and a solo male dancer in blue, whose effortless spins and leaps supposedly were inspired by Ashton's admiration of another Fred, Mr. Astaire.  It was utterly captivating and is going to be revisited hopefully again sometime.  The ballet was a tribute to Ashton's dazzling vision and style - effortlessly elegant but with a grounding in pattern and technique.  The company were excellent but special mention to Luca Acri as the effervescent boy in blue.

The mood changed dramatically with MacMillan's WINTER DREAMS which uses Chekhov's THREE SISTERS for inspiration.  The ballet had it's first performance in 1991 and MacMillan said he did not want to do a literal ballet adaptation of the play but to use it as a template to explore the emotions of loneliness and longing.  MacMillan originally staged it as a pas-de-deux for Masha and Vershenin as part of a gala for the Queen Mother's 90th birthday and expanded it to make a full 55 minute one-act ballet.

It's been quite a while since I saw THREE SISTERS so I was a bit shaky as to who was who but the central theme of the isolation of the three sisters was palpable and they were danced beautifully by Itziar Mendizabal as Olga, Sarah Lamb as Masha and Yasmin Naghdi as Irina with fine support from Gary Avis as Kulygin and Vadim Muntagirov as Vershenin; he and Lamb danced the central pas-de-deux wonderfully.  As with all MacMillan's finest work, WINTER DREAMS had an ominous air of sadness about it and it's duel scene towards the end reminded me of MAYERLING with it's guns and figures under umbrellas.  I think however I would have liked to have seen it grouped with other ballets as the wrench from the gaiety of the Ashton piece to the MacMillan was a bit too jarring.  The ballet is set to music by Tchaikovsky and it sounded wonderful shared between Russian stringed instruments and Robert Clark's piano.

The last ballet was Jerome Robbins' THE CONCERT first performed by NY City Ballet in 1956.  Set to music by Chopin, a fussy concert pianist - Robert Clark proving to be a right trooper - plays to a small audience who spend more time fidgeting and daydreaming than they do just listening.  Their various personal thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of six ballerinas who attempt a pas de six but end up facing the wrong way or with the wrong arm raised etc.

It's a slight piece but made up a pleasing sandwich with LES PATINEURS for the more weighty WINTER DREAMS, and it was well performed by the company who communicated a sense of delight in being able to do comedy. 

The art of curating a mixed programme is a tricky one but I was delighted to have seen these three ballets in one sitting and see some favourite dancers in new roles.

Onto the 2019 season...!

THE DREAM / SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS / MARGUERITE AND ARMAND at Covent Garden - Ashton's gems

Yes I know... more dance!  But this was an evening I would not have missed for anything.  As the Royal Ballet came to the end of their 2016-17 season it was time to salute again the peerless legacy of the company's founding choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton and to say goodbye to a principal ballerina.

As well as the evening serving as a double tribute, it was also an evening that featured two adaptations from literature as well as featuring two ballets that were originally danced by Ashton's muse, Dame Margot Fonteyn.  The Royal Ballet's triple bills usually deliver the goods - this one ranks as one of the best.

The first of the evening's ballets was THE DREAM, Ashton's 1964 version of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.  Rather than do a full adaptation of Shakespeare's play, Sir Fred chose to focus on the main middle section where the arguing rulers of fairyland, Oberon and Titania, find their dispute disrupted by the fleeing human lovers Helena, Demetrius, Hermia and Lysander as well as the clod-hopping Bottom.  I think he might have spoiled Shakespeare's play for me now as, without the distractions of the bookending Athens sequences, his version was by far the most entertaining I have seen in years!

Ashton set his choreography to Mendelssohn's scores for two productions of the original play in the late 19th Century but John Lanchbery's arrangement of the scores is so smooth that it plays as a single piece.  The late David Walker's design takes us back to full-on romantic versions of the play and I particularly liked the fairy frocks which were in varying shades of green, blue, pink and purple.

The always-remarkable Steven McRae was a fantastic Oberon, charismatic, mercurial and defying gravity, and was well partnered by Akane Takada as a spirited Titania, their final duet was simply dazzling as the couple become once more the loving king and queen of the forest.  The role of Puck was played by Valentino Zucchetti who could give vivacity a bad name.

Bennet Gartside was a delight as Bottom, galumphing away when not delighting in his temporary status as Titania's donkey-headed lover.  The mixed-up lovers danced by Thomas Mock, Matthew Ball, Claire Calvert and, in particular, Itziar Mendizabal as the lovelorn Helena were a delight.  It must be a tough call to get laughs through just dance when you know it's a famous comedic role but Itziar got them.  All in all, as I said, it was one of the most captivating DREAMs that I have seen.

In 1946 the Sadler's Wells Ballet was invited to be the permanent company at the Opera House, Covent Garden and one of their first productions was SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS, danced to music by César Franck.  During WWII ballet had relied on safe, narrative productions but Ashton wanted this to be totally abstract.  It was an immediate success and the original cast included Margot Fonteyn, Moira Shearer and Michael Somes.  Three male and three female dancers are alone on stage with nothing to distract from their simple lines and classic moves.  It is hard to judge it's originality now as it is the abstract norm but it was still beautifully danced by all the ensemble and the leads, Marianela Nunez and Vadim Muntagirov.

Just as the lights were lowering for the last ballet I whispered to Owen that Zenaida Yanowsky - who we were about to see in MARGUERITE AND ARMAND - couldn't have too many performances left as her retirement from the Royal Ballet had been announced months ago.  I was right, she didn't.  It was that night!

We had just seen Zenaida in full imperious diva mode in Liam Scarlett's SYMPHONIC DANCES but as Dumas' tragic Lady of The Camilias she was all too human but still never less than hypnotic.  There was a slight sense of deja vu as we had seen the same story at Covent Garden last year in LA TRAVIATA but Ashton's MARGUERITE AND ARMAND - like his DREAM - distilled the essence of the story without making you feel much was left out.

Ashton devised the ballet in 1963 as a star vehicle for his partnership of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev and they created such an indelible stamp on it that the Royal Ballet felt they could not revive it until 2000, well after their deaths in the 1990s.  But the piece cries out for charismatic star performers and while Yanowsky certainly is, it's a shame that Roberto Bolle was a bit stolid.

Danced to a piano sonata by Liszt the ballet starts with Marguerite on her deathbed, deserted by the hangers-on who once thronged her home and she drifts back to the love of her life Armand.  We flash back to the night they met, when Marguerite was the courtesan of the Parisian rich and famous.  Their initial flirtation hints at a deeper longing and they quickly become inseparable despite Marguerite's failing health.

They move to the country for Marguerite's health but her past catches up with her when Armand's disapproving father arrives and pressures Marguerite to reject Armand so he can have a blameless future.  Despite her love for him, Marguerite flees their home while Armand sleeps.  Well partnered by Christopher Saunders as Armand's father, Yanowsky played the scene beautifully, her final moments with Armand were achingly poignant - who needs words?

Marguerite returns to Paris and to her old rich lover but Armand appears at one of her parties and denounces her as a whore, showering her with money as payment for their love.  Again Yanowsky played the scene wonderfully - and I say played rather than danced as she gave as great an acting performance as any RADA-trained thesp.  Publicly humiliated, Marguerite's rich friends desert her and she succumbs to her illness alone.  However Armand's father tells his son the real reason for her desertion and he rushes to her bedside to have final moments with her before she dies.  This could feel mawkish but - just like Garbo in the 1936 film of CAMILLE - Yanowsky played the truth and not the sentimentality

If I thought the emotional highpoint had just taken place onstage I was wrong, as the curtain slowly descended there was a thunderous ovation which only grew and grew as Zenaida and the company took their bows.  Wave after wave of flowers rained down from the stage boxes to say farewell and thank you to her from her London fans; her last-ever Royal Ballet performance will be during the company's forthcoming tour of Australia.  It was like being in a Hollywood film!

Then came the real surprise,a parade of her leading men including Carlos Acosta and Steven McRae lined up to present her with a rose each then the choreographers who had worked with her ending with Sir Anthony Dowell almost hidden behind a huge bouquet.  Then it was the turn of Kevin O'Hare as Director of the Royal Ballet to give a speech thanking her for 23 years of artistry with the company and hinting that he would be trying in the future to hopefully pursuade her to return as a guest artist.  Then it was time for more curtain calls - and still more showers of flowers - before Zenaida left the stage for the last time.

It was a wonderful night showcasing the taste, mastery and effortless storytelling of Sir Fred but also it was an honour to be in the night when the Royal Ballet said a fond goodbye to one of their own.

Brava Zenaida!

MAYERLING at Covent Garden: Kenneth MacMillan's Obsessional Classic...

Mystery still hangs over the deaths in 1889 of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire Crown Prince Rudolph and his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Imperial hunting lodge of Mayerling.  He was 30 and she was 17, and as soon as their bodies were found a cover-up started to protect both the Hapsburg Empire and the image of the happily-married Prince.  The story has been told several times on film but Kenneth MacMillan's 1978 ballet MAYERLING for the Royal Ballet casts a gripping spell.

Needless to say the reality in 1889 was anything but what was reported at the time.  History has revealed Rudolf to be a morbid death-obsessed womanizer who at the time of his death was riddled with syphilis and addicted to morphine.  His politically expedient marriage to Princess Stephanie of Belgium left both miserable but his request that they separate was refused by his father Emperor Franz Josef - an act of gross hypocrisy as his father and mother, the Empress Elizabeth, lived fairly separate lives with their own lovers.

A former mistress of Rudolf was Empress Elizabeth's niece and lady-in-waiting Countess Marie Larisch who was a friend of Mary Vetsera's mother, and these two women who both craved advancement at court, actively promoted Rudolf's attraction to young Mary.  She was a wilful, highly-strung teenager passionately in love with her Prince Charming (as she saw him) and would do anything for The Grand Gesture.  That came on 31st January, three months after their meeting, when they were both found dead in his bedroom.

Marie left a letter full of fateful talk of them going into an uncertain beyond but they were going together.  Needless to say, this was the last thought on the Hapsburg Empire's collective mind after their bodies were found: Mary's uncles were summoned to Mayerling and, propping her up between them in a carriage, was buried immediately in a nearby monastery cemetery, while Rudolf was mourned as having died from a heart rupture. Eventually a version of the murder/suicide was released but with the emphasis that the Prince's mind was deranged so the church allowed for his body to be buried in the Hapsburg burial crypt.

Kenneth MacMillan's brooding masterpiece opens with a moonlit burial, only when it is repeated at the end do we know this is the hasty funeral of pathetic Mary Vetsera.  The ballet flashbacks to the wedding of Rudolf and Princess Stephanie but unsettling undercurrents swirl around the court as Stephanie is terrorized by the crazed Rudolf in their room.  The second act has Rudolf making his wife accompany him as he tours the taverns drinking and womanizing, Stephanie leaving in distress when he dances with his ex-lover Mitzi Caspar who eventually hides him from a police raid; meanwhile Countess Larisch visits Mary and her mother and tricks the girl into believing that her destiny is to be Rudolf's lover.  The act ends with the first tumultuous lovemaking of Rudolf and Mary.

The third act opens with a shooting party where Rudolf shoots a courtier dead who is standing near the Emperor (an incident that happened in reality) and while the Empress discerns the hand of Countess Larisch in the relationship, Mary and Rudolf decide on their fate.  At Mayerling, the Prince's servant tries to entertain the couple as he has done before but stops when he realizes the couple are totally self-absorbed, fatally leaving the couple alone...

39 years after it's debut performance MacMillan's ballet is a darkly glittering masterwork; a driven, haunting work of tortured sexuality that leads inexorably to the grave.  It's fascinating that MacMillan ends the first and second acts with Rudolf having violent sex but whereas the first act has Stephanie manhandled by Rudolf and cowering as he brandishes a revolver, in the second act Rudolf finds Mary a match for him, a match made in a dangerously out-of-control place.  MacMillan's extraordinary choreography is still a hypnotic, thrilling thing to see.

The ballet, which is based on a scenario by Gillian Freeman, has been re-staged by Christopher Saunders, Grant Coyle and Karl Burnett and uses the original designs by the late Nicholas Georgiades.  The lead roles of Rudolf and Mary were danced by Thiago Soares and Lauren Cuthbertson, and while Cuthbertson brought the wildly passionate teenager to vivid and thrilling life I found Soares to be quite uncharismatic and almost lumpen, I can only imagine the electric quality that more live-wire performers like Edward Watson and Steven McRae would bring to the role.

There was much more to be enjoyed in the supporting roles: Yuhui Choe played the distressed Stephanie well while Claire Calvert was a vibrantly sensual Mitzi Caspar, the real-life mistress of Rudolf who reported him to the authorities when he suggested a suicide pact.  I enjoyed Tristan Dyer as the Prince's servant Bratfisch who has a delightful solo in the tavern and whose faltering repeat of it at Mayerling was very touching.  However they were all outshone by the always watchable Itziar Mendizabal as the devious Countess Marie Larisch, the go-between for the lovers. 

In real life, Countess Marie was ostracized by Empress Elizabeth when her involvement in the deaths was revealed and she led a peripatetic life, marrying often and living in various countries, always trying to make money off of her involvement with the Hapsburg royalty.

MAYERLING was wonderful to see and stands as a tribute to the remarkable choreographic genius of Kenneth MacMillan, who tragically died of a heart-attack backstage at Covent Garden during a revival performance of the ballet in 1992.