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| Le Carnaval Des Animaux |
| San Franciso Ballet: Program 8, 2003
Comedy in ballet is, for the most part, alien territory. One cringes at the number of dances that have worked very hard at being even mildly funny and ended up making you gag. Thus, when a ballet that can be called truly uproarious comes along, that�s news. So, stop the presses and replate the hedlines! Alexei Ratmansky�s Carnaval des Animaux (Carnival of the Animals), commissioned by the San Francisco Ballet and premiered at the War Memorial Opera House Thursday evening (May 1), induces spasms of laughter from the opening moment, when Pierre-Francois Vilanoba slips his lion skin and flops around the stage, shaking his shaggy mane, and it keeps you wrapped in a rosy aura of contentment for the next 25 minutes, when the entire cast bounces up and down to the closing pages of Camille Saint-Saens� familiar suite for two pianos and orchestra. No narration needed or deployed./ Review |
| Alexei Ratmansky |
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| San Francisco Ballet in Le Carnaval des Animaux. Photo by Chris Hardy. |
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| Megan Low, Kristen Long & Liz Miner - Hens - in Le Carnaval. Photo by John Ross. |
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| Pablo Piantino & James Sofranko as Horses in Le Carnaval. Photo by John Ross. |
| The cast changes in Le Carnaval des Animaux do not at all detract from Ratmansky�s sophisticated send-up of the familiar Saint-Sa�ns score. Ruben Martin shook his leonine mane with gusto, Sherri LeBlanc bowed as the tipsy, ditzy elephant with great comic flair, and Muriel Maffre returned with her peerless, terminal swan - a delight last season, a delight on Thursday. Ballet doesn�t get any funnier than this. Now that he has taken over the Bolshoi Ballet, San Francisco probably won�t be seeing much more of this gifted young Russian. We can take some comfort in saying we knew Alexei Ratmansky when./ Review |
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