Editor’s note: “Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake” — with its corps of male swans — returns to New York this week for a limited run; it opens Sunday. But is it ballet or theater? Clive Barnes, The Post’s late theater and dance critic, weighed in on just that shortly after it opened on Oct. 8, 1998. Here are some excerpts from his review.
EVEN the mini mally observant must have at least subliminally observed that there has been any amount of spin, hype and fantasy surrounding Matthew Bourne’s fascinating “Swan Lake,” which last night had its official Broadway opening at the Neil Simon Theatre.
There have been suggestions that this is more of a Broadway musical than a ballet. Well, it isn’t. Despite the formidable championship — and producing muscle — of Sir Cameron Mackintosh, it is still a ballet, quite pure and comparatively simple.
No one sings, no one talks — though there are a few shouts and grunts on rare occasions — and dear old Tchaikovsky’s score, in its 1895 recension, is used virtually uncut.
Finally, there is the canard — perhaps an altogether apt term in the circumstances — that this is an all-male “Swan Lake” with homoerotic overtones. It isn’t. There are 31 men in the company, but also 13 women.
The Swans are danced by men rather than women — which accounts for the male-female ratio — and this is no incygnificant change. But they are not danced effeminately: quite the contrary. After all, some birds suggest maleness rather than femaleness. Remember that the French, with their gender-conscious linguistics, refer to le cygne rather than la cygne. And the French rarely go wrong in such matters.
Regarding the homoerotic overtones: As an uncloseted heterosexual, I must yield to opinions more authoritative. However, I have a hunch that gays depending on this “Swan Lake” for such kicks would be as disappointed as randy straights hoping to drool over a female corps de ballet. The latter has certainly never done anything much in that department for me.
The obvious change is those male swans, and Bourne’s central imagery for these new and dangerous creatures is by far the most striking aspect of his choreography. Yet it is no accident that Bourne calls himself director as well as choreographer, and his dances are actually more theatrically exciting than choreographically imaginative . . .
By every means, see this “Swan Lake.” If you like ballet, I think you’ll love it. If you don’t like ballet, you’re probably a lost cause anyway — but give it a try. Surprise is the spice of life.
“Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake” runs through Nov. 7 at New York City Center, 55th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues; 212-581-1212.