You can’t take anything about “Le Corsaire” seriously — except the dancing. American Ballet Theatre’s swashbuckling ballet is like “The Abduction from the Seraglio” meets “The Pirates of Penzance” as told by Looney Tunes. But it’s a great excuse for technical fireworks, and — even before July Fourth — Monday night’s cast was happy to provide them.
The story tells the adventures of Conrad, his band of pirates and his love, Medora, who’s about to be sold to Pasha Seyd as a slave. It’s clear enough from watching what’s happening, but read the program to find out why. With four leading males and two ballerinas onstage, there’s no time to waste on trivia like logic or motivation.
But there’s plenty of exotic color and nonstop bravura dancing. The most familiar is known in its excerpted form as “The Corsaire Pas de Deux.” It looks completely different here — it’s actually a trio. Conrad joins in the dancing with Medora and Ali, the slave.
At Monday’s opening, the all-star team of Marcelo Gomes, Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy engaged in good-natured one-upsmanship. Dancing the part of Ali, Stiefel turned his solo into a 90-second showpiece packed with jumps exploding into splits.
Gomes’ Conrad dances many of the same steps, so it can’t help but seem like a competition. His loose, juicy dancing ended in an even more arched backbend.
Meanwhile, Murphy — Stiefel’s fiancée — showed off her ball- bearing turns. Not to be outdone, Stiefel returned in a complex series of jumping turns.
The ballet gets even sillier as it continues with pirate massacres followed by dancing. Gomes relishes going over the top, and has a great time shivering his timbers. When he shoots a traitorous companion, it’s hard not to snicker. Go ahead. It’s a guilty pleasure.
The season ends Saturday night, when Stiefel, 39, performs as Ali a final time — he’s leaving ABT to run the Royal New Zealand Ballet. From his extravagant, supple moves, it’s clear he’s hardly on his last legs. If his closing night is anything like Angel Corella’s farewell last week, it will be worth checking out for the curtain calls alone.