DANCE REVIEW : ABT’S FINAL ‘COPPELIA’ OF SEASON

The American Ballet Theatre season in Shrine Auditorium is now in a familiar phase that balletomanes call “ABT roulette.” You put your money down to see a particular cast, the wheel of fortune spins and, when the curtain goes up, the dancers and even the ballet can be quite different from what you gambled on.

As always, the odds favor the House--but the audience Wednesday at the final “Coppelia” this season had reason to feel lucky. The scheduled principals were Martine van Hamel and Patrick Bissell, always remarkable together but far from ideal in this ballet when they danced it last week.

The actual leads turned out to be Cheryl Yeager and Johan Renvall--brighter, more buoyant and surprisingly moving in the wedding finale as well.

Yeager could not make the tests of balance in the Act III pas de deux look easy, and her dancing sometimes seemed to belong to another character--a far more stuffy character than Swanilda. Yet the Scottish variation in Act II and the teasing solo near the finale had just the personalized vivacity they needed. Moreover, she acted the role with extraordinary freshness and a deep core of belief.

Renvall was simply world-class, all the way. From that first stage-crossing introduction of the Mazurka dancers to his spectacular spinning in the finale, he seemed to embellish every step--with more turns, beats, unexpected shifts of position or direction than anyone ventured this season. Yet he never strained to impress, never finished a sequence less than in complete (and nonchalant) control.

In addition, he acted Franz with unerring taste and endless warmth, even managing to suggest intelligence in the role--a conflict between illusion and reality that is the theme of early 19th-Century ballet. Jack Everly conducted.