What’s Australian for “Swan Lake”? Down Under has its own version of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece — one that capped off the Australian Ballet’s first visit here since 1999. The newfangled “Swan” that played Lincoln Center over the weekend has luxurious plumage, but it’s not nearly as tender as the old bird.
Australian choreographer Graeme Murphy took the lovers Odette and Prince Siegfried and overlaid their tale with the tempestuous marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in the broadest strokes. Baroness von Rothbart is a conniving Camilla; the Queen is Mommie Dearest.
The Prince and Odette haven’t even cut the cake before the honeymoon’s over. She’s no match for the Baroness’ hold on Siegfried. After Odette desperately tries to make him pay attention by throwing herself at every male guest, she breaks down into a mad dance of despair, clearing the floor in whipping turns. The royal family has her committed to a sanitarium. It’s there, by a frozen lake, that she finds the swans.
Apart from Odette’s solo, most of the choreography feels pedestrian and thin. The presence of the swans feels more like an obligation than a metaphor, and when Murphy riffs on the traditional version by putting its steps to different music — it only reminds us how much more inventive and poetic the original is.
At least the designs are an eyeful. Like Diana, Odette has a stunning wedding dress. It’s a killer, in more ways than one — both she and the Prince fumbled on the enormous silk train. The sanitarium attendants wear striking headgear that hides their faces: the Flying Nun as a Dr. Who villain.
The dancers are hardworking and beautifully schooled. The tiny Madeleine Eastoe as Odette and curly haired Kevin Jackson as her prince survived this marathon, though most of the repertory was mediocre. And at Tuesday’s opening program, a mixed bill, Stanton Welch’s “Divergence” was so awful it was wonderful.
In it, the women were dolled up like Jane Jetson in futuristic tutu skirts, only to shuck them off and dump them at the back of the stage. It was supposed to be classical yet sassy, but it looked more like the Real Housewives of Sydney taking stripping lessons.
If that’s Australian for ballet, maybe they need to come up with some different phrases.