| From: The New York Times, May 30, 2001 Dance Review by Jack Anderson
Matchmaking
as a Civic Duty in Gay Paree
Certain eye-catching but insubstantial light
comedies and adventure films are sometimes classified as summer movies. So, too, there are
comparable summer ballets. One of them is The Merry Widow, Ronald Hynd’s
choreographic adaptation of F. Lehar’s classic operetta, which American Ballet
Theater has been dancing at the Metropolitan Opera House.
The work bubbles along with moments of charm,
as well as stretches of choreographic padding. But Desmond Heeley’s scenery and
costumes are pretty, Lehar’s melodies remain gorgeous and there are varied roles for
many soloists. The performances on Saturday and Monday nights featured dancers who were
seen for the first time this season in their parts, along with dancers who have already
been reviewed.
On Monday, when Charles Barker conducted,
Nina Ananiashvili portrayed Hanna, the ballet’s heroine, and a very merry widow she
was. This Hanna was a woman of changing moods, often capricious, yet also elegant, and
when she danced her way into love, she did so wholeheartedly.
As Danilo, her lover, Guillaume Graffin
looked proud and sometimes decidedly haughty, even in his comic drunk scenes. But he was
also slightly charmless and lacking in romantic passion.
Brian Reeder was the fussy Baron Mirko Zeta.
Paloma Herrera was coquettish as Valencienne, the baron’s wife; John Gardner was
suave and worldly as Camille, her lover; and Joaquin de Luz turned Njegus, the baron’s
secretary, into a dapper busybody.
……. |
