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Ratmansky's Lost Illusions (3-act ballet)


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With all of the news about changes in the Bolshoi last week, I almost missed the news of Alexei Ratmansky's next big premiere -

http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/season/ballet/premieres/detail.php?&id26=401&act26=info&dynact26=afisha&dynid26=2563#dyn

A 3-act ballet, Lost Illusions...presumably to the music and story of the famous 1930s/40s Soviet ballet that starred Ulanova, based on the Balzac novel?

UPDATE: NO composer cited in the above link, yet earlier on-line articles mentioned that this ballet would be composed by Leonid Desyatnikov, who had earlier composed the score to another Ratmansky ballet, Russian Seasons. The famous 1930s version of the ballet was composed by Asafiev and choreographed by Zakharov, starring Ulanova & Sergeev (Kirov, 1935). Hmmm...something tells me that this new version's music will be less romantic (few hummable melodies) and we might expect barren minimalistics sets favored of late by Mr. Ratmansky. Hopefully not. Regardless, a major event.

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One of our lovely Russian youtube friends posted some excerpts of the 2nd cast featuring Lunkina and Shipulina. The fouette bit on the table in the second video seems a little scary!

On another note: the Bolshoi's costume department is so consistently excellent...everything that comes out of there is so sumptuous and expensive looking.

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Oh...I LOVE that novel...! :wub:

Me, too. But it's 624 pages in my paperback edition (Flammarion). The synopsis as printed by the Bolshoi omits a lot. But it leaves IN an incredible amount as well..

It would be fascinating to see whether Ratmansky can convey a sense of the story to the audience without swamping them in plots, subplots, multiple characters and settings, turbulent ups and downs of fortune, and Balzacian social commentary..

P.S. Thank you, Marc, for the wonderful photos. Thanks also to ksk04 for the video links.

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....On another note: the Bolshoi's costume department is so consistently excellent...everything that comes out of there is so sumptuous and expensive looking.

Absolutely. They look gorgeous. It's just a shame that when Ratmansky resets the productions outside the Bolshoi, he tends to go with cheaper-looking, less sumptuous sets and costumes. In other words, if ABT ever gets the Ratmansky Lost Illusions, don't expect to see these sets & costumes.

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Oh...I LOVE that novel...! :wub:

Me, too. But it's 624 pages in my paperback edition (Flammarion). The synopsis as printed by the Bolshoi omits a lot. But it leaves IN an incredible amount as well..

It would be fascinating to see whether Ratmansky can convey a sense of the story to the audience without swamping them in plots, subplots, multiple characters and settings, turbulent ups and downs of fortune, and Balzacian social commentary..

P.S. Thank you, Marc, for the wonderful photos. Thanks also to ksk04 for the video links.

Welcome, Bart.

Let's not forget the basis of this 2011 ballet is Vladimir Dmitriev's libretto from the mid-thirties, rather than the novel by Honoré de Balzac. Of course, Dmitriev's plot was sourcing Balzac, but his main purpose was no less: "While keeping within the limits of the romantic genre, my goal was to lay bare and, thereby, expose its hollowness." Ratmansky and team used this libretto and edited it again for their own purpose. Ratmansky is a born storyteller who moreover knows his classics. What I liked in this production is how he managed to show us glimpses of Marie Taglioni's world versus Fanny Ellsler's, by giving the two main female characters (Coralie and Florine) their own defining ballet - "La Sylphide" and in stylized form "La Fille du Bandit" (here called "In the mountains of Bohemia"), all against the background of the main plot.

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Let's not forget the basis of this 2011 ballet is Vladimir Dmitriev's libretto from the mid-thirties, rather than the novel by Honoré de Balzac. Of course, Dmitriev's plot was sourcing Balzac, but his main purpose was no less: "While keeping within the limits of the romantic genre, my goal was to lay bare and, thereby, expose its hollowness." Ratmansky and team used this libretto and edited it again for their own purpose. Ratmansky is a born storyteller who moreover knows his classics. What I liked in this production is how he managed to show us glimpses of Marie Taglioni's world versus Fanny Ellsler's, by giving the two main female characters (Coralie and Florine) their own defining ballet - "La Sylphide" and in stylized form "La Fille du Bandit" (here called "In the mountains of Bohemia"), all against the background of the main plot.

Ratmansky has an advantage over Balzac in that he can actually show us his women in performance. Balzac could do this. He TELLS us what he thinks of them as artists, and how they have been received by Paris audiences. But all you really get to see is their relationship with men.

What a great idea to give each of these women her own defining work to dance.

Coralie is an actress in the novel, not a dancer. She is a sensitive soul, treated badly by almost everyone. She dies young -- deeply (delusionally, I would say) in love with Lucien to the end. I can imagine her performing La Sylphide.

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Thanks for links (and again for photos): I very much hope to see this ballet -- and would certainly love to see it with the Bolshoi--though as Natalia suggests, Mckenzie must have his eye on it for ABT.

Given Ratmansky's tenure w. ABT until 2013 - an astounding period of time - I have no doubt that ABT will eventually perform every one of the full length ballets that Ratmansky is creating around the globe. The Bright Stream is just the beginning of this process.

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