La Bayadère Act II
The Pied Piper
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
May 18, 2001

It’s interesting how a brilliant performance from years ago can grow in one’s memory. While watching American Ballet Theatre’s Ashley Tuttle and Ethan Stiefel slice through their roles in Act II of La Bayadère, I kept harking back to a fabulous performance of the same by Wes Chapman’s American Ballet. “Tuttle and Stiefel are doing really well,” I grumbled like some begrudging curmudgeon, “but it isn’t as good as that other performance.”

Was it really true? I recalled the excellent Shannon Chain’s uncanny six o’clock developés a la seconde, and Shawn Black’s dizzyingly brisk turns. But in assessing the performance before me, I also admired Tuttle’s wizardry: she has a good line in the air, and nice ballon, as one might expect from a long-limbed person. But when it came to her turns, I think they were as crisp and quick as any I’ve seen from smaller dancers. So which is she? Tall or small? I could not tell from this performance. Go see her for yourself and try to figure it out.

Ethan Stiefel is certainly a phenomenal dancer, but again I found myself comparing his performance to that of Wes Chapman. In this case, however, I’m certain Chapman’s perfectly-aligned axes in his pirouettes and aerial work gave me more satisfaction than Stiefel’s high-flung turns which, although excitingly off-kilter, left me edgy as to whether or not he would survive the Evel Knievel approach to those grande allegro steps.

Impressions from previous performances notwithstanding, I was happy to see that such a staple item as this excerpt could shine with freshness next to the flashy, new world premiere which followed.

David Parsons has made his second work for ABT, The Pied Piper. It was promoted as part of the company’s commitment to create family ballets.

I had mixed reactions to Parsons’ work, but thought it was successful overall. It works on different levels, and it may well be that the parts I was less happy about will go over quite well with its intended, younger audience.

The night I went, Angel Corella danced the role of the Pied Piper. Having already used such words as brilliant, fabulous, uncanny , dizzying, phenomenal and freshness, I haven’t left myself much room to describe Mr. Corella, but they all apply. His performance was sustained by his customary, boundless exuberance; it’s a pleasure to watch his continued growth as an artist.

My criticisms of the work were few. There were times when the entire corps danced about all at once, in their varied and colorful costumes, and all I saw was a technicolor blur. During such times I could occasionally pick out interactions between the characters, but I feared important parts of the storyline were being lost in the visual maelstrom. Did it render the storyline unfathomable? No. Will the kids enjoy all that action and color? Probably. And the scenes which I thought were too dimly lit will probably also seem fine to younger eyes.

High-tech projections on the cyclorama, combined with the physical set pieces, brought to life the fanciful geometry one usually sees in Dr. Suess’s architecture: impossibly leaning towers and other gravity-defying, misaligned structures.

The townspeople’s costumes were equally effective in making the dancers seem more like cartoons than real people. Brightly colored gloves made their hands look inhumanly elongated and Parsons’ frantic steps further transformed them into living caricatures.

Parsons is laudably succinct in portraying the pivotal moments in the story. Sometimes the development leading up to these points felt a bit long, but this may be a constraint of John Corigliano’s music, which created a great mood, but was too complex to send folks home humming a melody.

One mustn’t forget this is a very dark tale. The townsfolk are unpleasant people. When they receive their come-uppance, it’s satisfying to see the grieving and gnashing of teeth; but it becomes so piteous I found myself hoping for their redemption. That’s a good lesson for a children’s ballet, right? Forgiveness? Second chances? Well, forget it. There’s more unhappiness and finger-pointing as the ballet closes and the evil adults are left to stew in their own juices.

Will the kids like this? Probably. I can recall times as a child when grown-ups seemed impossibly cruel and dictatorial and wouldn’t it be nice if someone taught them a lesson. Whew. That sure happens here.

Not to give away more than I might already have, but do go see this ballet and watch for the banquet table which magically takes shape amid the crowd of townspeople, and the flautist who appears as if from nowhere, and the clever rat puppets. By all means take non-dancing children to see it, especially boys. If they see the role Parsons has created for the Piper, one need never worry about them being bored or thinking ballet is for sissies.