National Opera of Ukraine’s premiere of <I>The Marriage of Figaro</I>

The premiere of the ballet The Marriage of Figaro, dedicated to Mozart’s jubilee, took place on March 1. Choreographer Viktor Yaremenko and conductor Oleksiy Baklan came up with their own original version (libretto and musical compilation; set design by Maria Levytska) based on Beaumarchais’s celebrated story and works by Mozart.

This was the first new ballet production of the season, and even the dress rehearsal attracted a large audience consisting not only of family and friends of the cast, but also celebrated dancers, choreographers, students of the National Dance Academy’s School of Choreography, media people, and ballet buffs. Yaremenko said, “Please don’t judge our performance harshly. You are our litmus paper and we’ll know from your response where we have succeeded or failed.”

The Marriage of Figaro is a lighthearted, merry story without a dynamic dramatic core. Probably owing to the production team’s tight schedule (1.5 months), the troupe had to leave on a concert tour of Switzerland the day after the premiere. Thus, Act One lacks finishing touches in terms of composition: the music has the same tempo, and the main heroes, Susanna (Olena Filipieva) and Figaro (Serhiy Sydorsky), portray their characters only illustratively. The roles of Countess Rosine (Tetiana Andreieva) and Count Almaviva (Ihor Bulychov) are sketchy. True, there are entertaining innovative scenes, like the corps de ballet riding mops in the scene where they are tidying up the palace; Marcellina (Mykola Mykheiev) and Bartolo (Serhiy Lytvynenko) fishing, casting their lines into the orchestra pit; and Cherubino’s (Yaroslav Salenko) sparkling pirouettes with a skipping rope.

In Act Two the action seemed to acquire a fresh impetus. Figaro now has courage. Marcellina performs her grenadier-style dance en pointe (although Mykheiev’s steps were strongly reminiscent of Mykhailovsky’s ballet; there were leap frogs and skipping rope stunts in the scene of Cherubino in the army (the Virsky Ensemble is known for such stunts).

Salenko should be congratulated; his supporting role as Cherubino ranks with the best ones ever seen, and this excellent young dancer’s technique seems to improve with every performance. Salenko is a virtuoso dancer. He has definite stage presence, and his leaps send him soaring over the stage. It is good to know that a graduate of Pysarev’s ballet school made an excellent premier danseur at the National Opera. By the finale Serhiy Sydorsky (Figaro) had completely submerged himself into his role.

In a word, the cast of the ballet diligently carried out the choreographer’s tasks. Yaremenko has created a light, unpretentious production. The audience relaxed and enjoyed the show, filled with Mozart’s extraordinary music. Many people in the audience were smiling in admiration of the ballet techniques that we do better than most people anywhere in the world.