The Washington Ballet took a big leap forward Thursday night with its ambitious staging of the 19th-century masterpiece, “Coppelia.”
The company has mounted full-length ballets before, such as “Romeo and Juliet” and “Cinderella,” but aside from the ubiquitous “Nutcracker,” this is its first from the classic repertoire.
“Coppelia” is a charmer, with its appealing music by Leo Delibes (the first ballet score with real merit), its comic, happy-ever-after tale of two quarreling lovers, and its brilliant, high-spirited dancing.
The production is helped immeasurably by the attractive costumes and imaginative sets, a cozy village and dark toymaker’s workshop designed by Jose Varona, on loan from the Pennsylvania Ballet.
True to the Washington Ballet’s current style, Charla Genn and director Septime Webre have staged the ballet with an emphasis on high energy and broad humor. At times they have encouraged mugging and overly exaggerated mime, but to their credit, they have inspired the company to new heights in its dancing and mounted a fresh, fast-paced production that never lags.
Coupled with all the fun and sparkle, “Coppelia” is a serious ballet in terms of its technical demands. The company rose to the occasion unevenly but mostly splendidly.
At the heart of its success were the big, virtuoso performances of Michele Jimenez and Jared Nelson as the two lovers. Their obvious rapport made believable the story of a feisty heroine, Swanilda, and her somewhat feckless boyfriend, Franz, who loves her but also has a wandering eye for Coppelia, a young woman who turns out to be a doll created by the mysterious Dr. Coppelius.
Dr. Coppelius is a foolish old man absolutely besotted with the doll he has created, and when he has the chance to imbue her with life, he jumps at it. He plays a trick on Franz to do this, and Swanilda, in turn, plays an even crueler one on Dr. Coppelius.
Playing Swanilda, Miss Jimenez is a lovely dancer with real star power, a wonderful dancer’s body, beautiful face, strong technique, and a natural radiance onstage. She seems to have been encouraged to be snippy rather than spunky in her first scenes, which goes against her naturally sweet air.
In his dancing of Franz, Mr. Nelson has gone from being a fine dancer to an electrifying one. Perhaps no one else in the company has made such dramatic strides. A strong partner, he has learned to deliver his pyrotechnic passages with a flourish.
In the great character role of Dr. Coppelius, ballet master John Goding was an old fuddy-duddy. It was a believable performance, but here was a case where the kind of flamboyance that was sometimes over the top in the dancing sections would not have been amiss.
In “Coppelia” the corps plays a pivotal role in providing the gaiety and sense of village community that surrounds the young lovers. The directors have done a fine job of developing this. Sometimes it veered into hard sell, but basically the ballet is about music and dancing, and the corps was particularly splendid in the first act.
One of the delights of having a fine homegrown dance company instead of a visiting group, however stellar, is becoming familiar with dancers and watching their development.
Because of its small pool of dancers, the company presses its best dancers into minor roles. They brought sharp characterizations to minor solos in the first act and gave a special luster to the small group of Swanilda’s friends.
Sometimes it felt that the recorded music was driving the dancing inexorably, but as the company has learned from sad experience, you can’t have live music, especially such splendid music, on the cheap. The accompaniment needs to be full-bodied.
Next year, the company is going to continue its foray into 19th-century classics with “Giselle,” and it will be wonderful to see these two dancers in its very different demands. I know there are other money demands, like the company’s new production of “The Nutcracker.” But a rich patron would give the company a magnificent gift by funding a good orchestra for the performance of one full-length classic a year.
The dancing is becoming so good the company deserves it.
As further evidence of its depth, the company is fielding four leading couples during the weekend. Brianne Bland and Jonathan Jordan were scheduled to dance last night, Elizabeth Gaither and Mr. Jordan will dance this afternoon, Miss Jimenez and Mr. Nelson tonight and Laura Urgelles and Jason Hartley tomorrow afternoon.
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WHAT: Washington Ballet in “Coppelia”
WHEN: Today at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
WHERE: Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater
TICKETS: $48 to $67
PHONE: 202/467-4600
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