‘Swan Lake” is one of ballet’s great tearjerkers; bring a hanky — or two — for the ending. But at American Ballet Theatre’s opening night on Monday, the unemotional performances meant there probably wasn’t a damp eye in the house.
Jose Manuel Carreno performed as the hero, Prince Siegfried, and Irina Dvorovenko played the dual role of the captive, enchanted white swan Odette and the evil black swan Odile. Both dancers are consummate pros who have each been with the company for more than 15 years, but all that experience added up to acting by rote.
Carreno pulls off amazing turns that revolve until he perches as impossibly on balance as a top that doesn’t fall over. Dvorovenko, with her long arms and pliant back, hits every supple pose as Odette.
But though the skill is there, the emotion isn’t. Carreno partners Dvorovenko beautifully, but they never seem to be in love. She puts more zest into her campy portrayal of Odile.
With her predatory neck and talk-to-the-hand haughtiness, she’s as much vulture as swan. On Monday, she started her famed virtuoso test of 32 consecutive turns off-balance, but still managed all of them through sheer willpower.
Director Kevin McKenzie’s war-horse production is largely traditional, set in a fairy tale era among trees that seem lifted from a Hieronymous Bosch woodcutting. But the dances are fussy and needlessly complicated.
The main departure is the beefed-up role of the villain, Odile’s father, von Rothbart, who seduces every woman at court, including Siegfried’s mother. It looks like it’s from a Las Vegas act instead of a ballet, but Marcelo Gomes still makes his solo the high point of the evening through pure sex appeal.
The corps de ballet looks in very good form, and drilled carefully into synchronization, but “Swan Lake” flops or flies because of the leads. Several different casts take wing through Saturday, including a special performance tomorrow in which Carreno, who’s been a company stalwart since 1995, gives his farewell performance. Even if opening night was no weepfest, expect to shed a tear or two at his swan song.