The Widow Simone, a wealthy farmer, plans to betroth her daughter Lise to Alain, a wealthy landowner's son. But Lise (Lucinda Dunn) has already given her heart to Colas (Matthew Lawrence) and the lovers continually find ways to outwit the widow.
Several of the characters are drawn with broad brush strokes, verging on satire. The Widow Simone (Mark Kay) is a disapproving scold, who glowers and fusses, but underneath it all truly loves her daughter. Farmer Thomas (Angus Woodyard) is the essence of smug pomposity. And his dreamy son Alain (Matthew Donnelly), is the classic fool, whose most precious possession is his red umbrella. Donnelly gives a warmly humorous performance, dancing with loose-limbed, ungainly grace, deliberately overbalanced and neatly performing a series of pratfalls.
Lucinda Dunn is delightful as Lise, mischievous, exuberant and innocently flirtatious. She effortlessly executes the fiendishly difficult steps. Matthew Lawrence as Colas is her perfect match, romantic and dashing, who casually tosses off a series of multiple turns on one spot and then bursts into stratospheric tour jetes.
In the second act, which takes place at the harvest festival, Kay as the Widow performs a show-stopping clog dance, followed by the harvesters' lively maypole dance. The act ends with a wild thunderstorm and the hapless Alain, clinging to his umbrella, is lifted aloft and sails away.
The lovers are finally united in the third act and the Widow reluctantly gives her consent. The ballet ends with a rousing finale danced by the entire company, as Lawrence raises Dunn in a spectacular one-handed lift.
� Katherine Goode (from The Advertiser)
