The Service of the Muses Doesn’t Abide Laxity… Inclement Weather Doesn’t Deter It
Sergei Yolkin
2010
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Here’s a production of Sleeping Beauty by the Mariinsky
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Snowfall couldn’t upset the Washington tour of the St Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre. The public wasn’t afraid of a sudden onset of Russian-style winter conditions in the American capital. Many of them gave up trying to dig out their cars after several days of snowfall, so, they went to the theatre using the Metro and Metrobus. The ballet Sleeping Beauty, which used the classic 1952 choreography of Konstantin Sergeyev, was a great success, and not only because Mariinsky prima ballerina Diana Vishneva performed the role of Aurora. The audience gave “bravos” to Vladimir Shklyarova in the role of the Prince, Yekaterina Kondaurova in the role of good fairy, and the pair of Jana Selina and Grigory Popov in the roles of the White Cat and Puss n’ Boots. The theatregoers praised the set design and the costumes. Many of them cried out, as they were leaving the theatre, “What a stunning festival!” The Kennedy Center offered to exchange tickets for other performances of the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi to those frightened off by today’s frost or unable to get to the theatre on the snow-covered roads.
12 February 2010
Sergei Yolkin
RIA-Novosti
