Word: baryshnikov
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...American Ballet Theater, its new million-dollar Cinderella is a crucial venture. In the past year, A.B.T. has been shaken by deficits, and in the consequent scuffles between the board of directors and management, Artistic Director Mikhail Baryshnikov offered with some asperity to resign. The troupe set out on its national tour last December with a lot to prove to creditors, audiences and itself...
...Baryshnikov, who will remain as artistic director, Cinderella is a break with his Russian heritage. So far, he has staged two full-length ballets for A.B.T, The Nutcracker and Don Quixote; both of them are lively but well-mannered variations of traditional Russian models. That he wanted something bolder this time became apparent when he chose as co-choreographer Peter Anastos, best known as the former guiding spirit (and as Olga Tchikaboumskaya, prima ballerina) of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, an all-male travesty troupe. In such parodies as Go for Barocco (Balanchine) and Yes, Virginia, Another Piano Ballet...
Though the choreographers cooperated on all aspects of the piece, Baryshnikov's mark is on the corps de ballet work in the ballroom scene, and he has clearly progressed since the tame groupings in the Nutcracker seven years ago. Prokofiev's waltzes are drenched in melody, yet edged with dark, thrilling shivers, and the choreography exploits their almost crude drama...
...choreographers seem to have more respect than affection for Cinderella, and the steps she is given are not memorable. Cynthia Gregory uses lovely floating balances and her skills as an actress to project the part through a theater as big as the Metropolitan Opera House. Adding insult to neglect, Baryshnikov and Anastos even bring on a glamorous masked lady (Leslie Browne) whom the Prince (Patrick Bissell) mistakes for Cinderella. The idea may be a bow to Odile in Swan Lake or several figures in Balanchine, but whatever the source, love's counterfeit has more vitality than its true image...
...truth this is the Prince's ballet-call it Prince Charming? Cinderfella?-and in an enterprise that seeks to shed conventional trappings, that may not be all bad. It should be noted that in his squabble with the A.B.T. board, Baryshnikov insisted that his presence onstage should not be counted upon for fund raising, so he must take satisfaction in producing a solid hit in which he has not yet appeared. But even if he never dances the role, Baryshnikov's offhand drollery and mildly subversive comic presence animate the part. This Prince is not a romantic sufferer...