I already had Park Lane, so Mayfair was a logical addition – not that I intend to build any hotels. Copenhagen’s Opera House is impressive enough without additional decoration.
Pardon the Monopoly analogy, but while Prokofiev and Stavinsky can relegate it to the backdrops either side of Free Parking, no one can dispute Tchaikovsky’s rightful place in ballet’s upper echelon.
He is the governor – and ‘The Nutcracker’ and ‘Swan Lake’ are the ultimate sparring partners. Now I’ve got them, I can’t see myself going back to Old Kent Road anytime soon. I am spoiled for life!
Work Gollum’s father would be proud of
Will you Adam ‘n’ Eve that, but all this talk of Southwark (pronounced suth-erk btw) makes me think of the world’s best Ian Dury impersonator himself: Andy bleedin’ Serkis, the motion capture maestro.
Because Gollum’s father has to pull the ‘bird’s’ strings on stage. Not the ballerina – thank you, manners gentlemen – by bird we mean swan, the white one, as in Princess Odette, a minor royal condemned to spend half her life in feathers.
Emma Riis-Kofoed is so swan-like, it’s scary. In her first appearance – to be fair, we have to wait a bit for the lake, let alone the swans – her movements are subtle but strongly evocative of a long-necked animal with a tendency to bob in slow motion, gracefully glide and hide in its own plumage .
Her body language conveys such an ethereal beauty, it’s breathtaking, and her first solo brings the house down: a volley of Bravos as the pressure cooker finally lets off the steam it’s been building since her entrance.
Dance in the shadow of the swans
Tellingly, all of Jonathan Chmelensky’s greatest applause, as Siegfried, the princely birdwatcher, comes after dances with Riis-Kofoed—both as Odette and the Black Swan, for whom she channels a different beast, and we’re powerless to resist her seduction .
Chmelensky’s dancing in the shadow of his co-pilot leaves the door open for Jon Axel Fransson as Von Rothbart to steal the parts of the show that don’t feature Riis-Kofoed. Tobias Prætorius as the Fool is also good value.
In all, 29 ballerinas ensure there is never a dull moment when the swans are on stage – the runway scenes are mostly pedestrian in comparison, apart from the marriage arrangers, who all duly deliver in what is a very lively third act.
A perfectly realized production
Behind the scenes, it’s a triumph, and artistic director Nikolaj Hübbe and chief choreographer Silja Schandorff can rightly bask in the glory of what is another fantastic production of a show that returns for another outing.
Conductor Vello Pähn runs a tight ship to deliver the music, and the lighting and costumes are all top notch.
The set design is a tad muted, but the visual effects more than make up for it: brace yourself for a sensational call to arms that begins before the curtain has even risen.
Source: The Nordic Page