The Australian Ballet's The Merry Widow

[Katharyn]

The Australian Ballets 'The Merry Widow'

Choreography: Ronald Hynd

Music; Lehar

Cast

Hanna: Lynette Wills (Senior Artist)

Count Danilo: Matthew Trent (Senior Artist)

Valencienne: Lisa Bolte (principal

Camille: Robert Curran (soloist)

The Merry Widow again??? I had quite a whinge about the fact that, yet again, The AusBallet were bringing poor ballet starved Canberra its supposed signature piece, the Merry Widow (MW). And as it has been a few years since the AB has been here, I wish my review could be a little more positive (and there performance a little more sparkling). The program tried to convince us that the MW was as 'intoxicating as champagne' however I think the only intoxication was from those sampling too much of what the bar had to offer during interval.

Act 1 was its usual pointless self, filled with the kind of hamming up to the audience that instantly grates on my nerves. This was broken up by Valenciennes entrance- in what was possibly the most unflattering dress I have ever seen. Lisa Bolte was a very pretty Valencienne, she has a sweet little girl face. Often Lisa looks very out of place in classical pieces because she doesn't have a typical dancers body and I sometimes worry she'll burst out of her bodice (in fact, i think Lisa has the same concern- at a party she sampled too much of the punch and when asked by the Prime Minister of Australia what she was thinking at the height of a spectacular lift in the ballet they had just performed she answered "I was just hoping I didn't fall out of my leotard!!") but in this role, it matters little. Matthew Trent made a bit of a cringe worthy entrance, I quite forgot he was supposed to be drunk- even though I know this ballet well- he just looked sloppy until about half way through his little entrance dance when he got the balance right and the audience cottoned on to what was happening and made the mandatory chuckling noises.

Scene 2. And my goodness, it was like looking at a whole new company! This is my first time watching the Aus since they lost many of their dancers and took in the newbies from the Australian Ballet School. There were only 3-4 corps members that I recognised and a stack of faces that I missed dearly since they left (we now have only 2 male principals!!). And, unfortunately, their inexperience showed with the messiest corps work I have ever seen from my favourite company. They seemed very well drilled in the style, but in working together they failed. I think the very cramped stage aggravated this problem, but I was still very disappointed to see legs flailing about at random times (I would've liked to have seen those legs flailing all together!) In all this was very inconsistant... Until Lindy (ie Lynette Wills) entered the stage. I was very excited to see that she would be performing the title role before hand, for, if there was someone who was always going to be perfect as Hanna it was Lindy- she has a beautiful open face with aristocratic features, a very open broad chest that holds the key to expressing her many emotions and it all tapers down to beautiful legs and feet that have an instep I, personally, would kill for. Her first majestic entrance drew applause from the previously subdued audience and though this is not a technical role, Lindy worked well with what she had, and was far and away the most musical dancer on stage. I worried perhaps she wouldn't be able to pull off the peasant girl pas de deux, because Lindy has a very mature face and style of dance... But my fears were unfounded (forgive me for not having faith in you Lindy! ) and she was beautiful and girlishly vunerable as she tried to hold on to her love. However, her loveliness was almost marred by Matthew Trent's inadequacy. I don't know if Matthew was ill, injured or just having a really really bad night, but he was unable to manage a solid double pirouette in attitude or a simple balance in arabesque en fondu! Everytime he did something I was sitting there willing him to get back behind Lindy and support her, rather than dance himself.

ACT 2 The 'national dances' mentioned in the program were performed adequately if not authentically (apart from one girl right in the front who had the droopiest arm. I wondered how this glaring fault had not been picked up- she was standing front row centre and it was blinding obvious. It may seem that I am giving this arm undue focus, but to me, that droopy arm summed up the entire performance). Valecienne and Camille performed their lovely pd with controlled passion, I think Curran is one to watch.. just give him a little while...

Steven Woodgate was the lead male national dancer and as always put in a fantastic performance. He has the ability to fade everyone else into the background, he has such a a bright personality (and is SUCH a drama queen!). He finishes turns just a quarter of a count before everyone else and makes things look just that little bit more effortless. I just don't know where he gets the energy and he certainly makes an impressive display. The rest of the men in their little red boots were ok... but they lacked any real fire.

I'm rewriting this after a week, because a computer stuff up lost my original review. And the only thing that really sticks in my head (apart from the drooping arm) is Lindy's solo, in particular the develope to seconde with the little pointe flex of the foot. Its a quirky action, yes, but Lindy managed to make it seem like it meant something and she had such understated but majestic style, rock solid balance... One thing I really like about Lindy (and I know I've mentioned this before) is how she really see's the other people onstage. I love how she'll look at someone in the corps and you know she is genuinly making eye contact. it just makes it a lot friendlier and warmer onstage (go team, sort of thing), and when she sweeps those beautiful eyes across the audience, you almost get the same feeling

Ahem. Sorry, I'm gushing.

The way the flags sagged right on cue and the frosty farewells from the guests when Hanna was 'discovered' with Camille was enough to get a chuckle out of me. Some of those corps girls really had the flounce down pat, and Lindy had this queer "uhoh... what have I done?" look on her face that really summed up the situation perfectly. And the way she picked up the scarf after Danilo threw it at her, 'he really loves me..." was written all over her body. Aww... Its a shame Matthew Trents acting didn't project quite as well.

ACT 3 More hamming up, in the form of an over the top maitre d', can-can dancers and the like, but this time slightly more appropriate to show the frivolity of the Pontevedrians. One thing that greatly puzzled me was the appearance of a lady in a black and yellow dress with a large bust and butt who pranced around stage looking haughty. Who was she? What was she doing? I followed her exaggerated posturing with some amazement... and felt quite relieved when Hanna arrived (at last, someone who could act naturally!). Of course, all the couples work things out (Valencienne doesn't try very hard to hide her feelings, I thought perhaps Bolte was a little TOO obvious, however). And suddenly, Lindy is left alone, delicate shoulders crumpled. She looked so forlorn I wanted to give her a big hug and say "its ok! Danilo can't dance anyway!" But Danilo comes back for her and order was restored.

I was disturbed to hear Lisa Bolte get most of the cheers during curtain call. I don't know if its because Valencienne is a more likable character or because Lindy doesn't have the words principal artist to her name or because the entire audience, bar me, was blind (someone said to me after that they didn't really warm to Lindy and I nearly cried) but it was obvious, to me at least, who the superior dancer was on the night. I really hope the the new corps hurries up and settles into to company life, because unless they shape up, the Australian Ballet will only be able to be considered a second rate company. And something needs to be done about the male dancer situation because the standard has fallen dramatically there as well. If this is showing the impact of Ross Strettons directorship, then maybe its a good thing he's leaving...

Overall? Lacklustre, but Lindy was great

[This message has been edited by Katharyn (edited May 14, 2000).]

[Andrei]

Thank you, Katharyn! I missed your reviews very much! Hope you will not be silent anymore.

Andrei.

[Alexandra]

Second! I share your frustration at being fed "The Merry Widow" after a long time without ballet (the same happened in D.C. last year), but I loved that you found something in the performance to love anyway. Great review, Katharyn. Keep 'em coming.

[Katharyn]

Thankyou Andrei and Alexandra, both for your compliments and for reading through my entire rather long-winded review!

I had a discussion with my ballet teacher tonight about the state of the Australian Ballet and she agrees that the corps was terrible. We agree that this is something that has only come about from Ross Stretton's directorship, however she says that its why his contract wasn't renewed, which I completely disagreed with- his contract was only let go because of his new gig at The Royal, wasn't it?

Might I also add I did not find anything much to like on another night with Miranda Coney (who barely pointed her foot all night) as Hanna and Nichole Rhodes as Valencienne. I don't like Nichole Rhodes, she has a beautiful body, fantastic technique but thats about it. I'm not dismissing the fact that a beautiful body and great technique are nice to look at for awhile, but as been discused numerous times here, there needs to be more.

[Lilly]

Hi Katharyn,

There are some rumours over here in Canada that James Kudelka, who is currently the director of the National Ballet of Canada, may be interested in applying for the directorship of the Australian Ballet. I don't know if he would be better than Ross Stretton. He has had quite a bit of controversy during his term with NBC over the Kimberly Glasco fiasco. On the other hand, he is an interesting choreographer. There is an article on this but with a hopelessly long URL. If you go to the website of the Globe and Mail (http://www.globeandmail.com) and enter "ballet" under the 7-day search, the article should appear near the bottom of the hit list.

[Katharyn]

Thankyou very much Lilly for posting that link! I've heard Kudelkas name mentioned as a possible new director when he was here for 'alleged dances', but I never actually seriously thought about it. As Ian McRae said its "news to me". I don't know if I'd be too happy about him taking over the Aussie Ballet, theres something about him (and his choreography) that I can't warm to and I don't know how well he'd fit in with the Australian psyche...

[This message has been edited by Katharyn (edited May 18, 2000).]