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| Adam Bull - Lucinda Dunn |
Music: Jules
Massenet
Choreography:
Sir Kenneth McMillan
Designer:
Peter Farmer
Conductor:
Nicolette Fraillon
The
Australian Ballet - Joan
Sutherland Theatre - SydneyOpera House until 23rd April 2014.
Performance
16th April reviewed by Bill Stephens.
Kenneth
McMillan’s dramatic full-length ballet, charting the rise and downfall of a
beautiful courtesan, was originally choreographed for the Royal Ballet in 1974.
The Royal Ballet brought it to Australia in 1988 as part of the bi-centennial
celebrations. In 1994 the Australian Ballet premiered its own production of
“Manon”, which 20 years later, with Peter Farmer’s sumptuous costumes and
settings intact, still remains a beautiful and compelling work with inventive
choreography and central roles which lend themselves to a variety of
interpretations.
Through the
course of the ballet, Manon’s journey takes her from innocent girl-hood to
rapturous love, sexual awakening and decadent wealth, finally humiliating
deportation as a prostitute only to die exhausted in a swamp of Louisiana. It
is a role prized by dancers for the opportunities and challenges it offers as
both dancer and actress.
The
Australian Ballet’s performance in the Joan Sutherland Theatre in the Sydney
Opera House on 16th April was particularly memorable because it was
the penultimate performance by Lucinda Dunn as Manon. One of The Australian Ballet’s most admired
and accomplished ballerinas, Dunn had announced that she would be retiring from
dancing at the end of the Sydney season of “Manon” after a 23 year career with
The Australian Ballet.
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| Lucinda Dunn as Manon |
From the
moment she made her entrance as the young girl enroute to a convent, it was
clear that Dunn was savouring every moment of this performance. So completely
was she immersed in the role that the intricate choreography seemed to hold no
terrors for her, as she abandoned herself completely to ballet.
Her total
trust and confidence in her partner, tall, elegant, Adam Bull as des Grieux,
was obvious and he supported her with a passionate, thoughtful performance that
made her instant attraction to him totally believable. Their ecstatic lifts, explosive jumps,
headlong rushes into each other’s arms in the post-coital pas deux were sensuous,
exhilarating and thrilling to watch.
Not only was
Dunn’s dancing wonderfully detailed but so too was her acting. The look of surprise which momentarily crossed
her face at the beginning of the
sensual pas de trois when her brother, Lescaut
(Andrew Killian) offers her to Monsieur GM
(Stephen Heathcote) , and her growing awareness of the power of her
sensuality as she succumbs to Monsieur GM advances was beautifully portrayed.
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| Andrew Killian (Lescaut) - Lucinda Dunn (Manon) - Stephen Heathcote (Monsieur GM) |
Among the
other central roles Andrew Killian was superb as Manon’s mischievous brother,
Lescaut. His dancing throughout, but particularly in the hilarious “drunk” pas
de deux at the ball, for which he was teamed with Laura Tong, excellent as his
fiery mistress, was nothing short of brilliant.
Bringing his
considerable experience to the role of the sinister Monsieur GM, Stephen
Heathcote exuded charm and elegance, throwing his money around at every
opportunity. The interplay between Monsieur GM and Madam X, (played by Olga
Tamara) the accommodating proprietor of the salon in the Hotel Particulier,
provided a chilling counterpoint to the festivities taking place as the
“actresses” plied their trade.
Brett
Chynoweth deserves special mention for his splendid dancing as the beggar
chief, as does Brett Simon who, as the gaoler, provided perhaps the most confronting
moment of this fascinating production. .
Although
cobbled together from a number of Jules Massenet compositions, the atmospheric,
tuneful score was superbly played by the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra
under the baton of Nicolette Fraillon, and provided a wonderfully lush and
romantic soundscape for a ballet which proved to be the perfect vehicle in
which to showcase the prodigious talents of a remarkable and much-loved
ballerina making her final farewell appearances.
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| Lucinda Dunn - Adam Bull |
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