DANCE REVIEW : New Casts for ‘Merry Widow’

Only one of the two alternate National Ballet of Canada casts in “The Merry Widow” over the weekend at the Orange County Performing Arts Center triumphed over Ronald Hynd’s unmusical choreography. Indeed, the Saturday evening principals went even further to reveal no character who was not changed at the end of the convoluted plot.

Start with Caroline Richardson’s poised, intense and passionate Valencienne, already in love with Peter Ottmann’s carefree Camille from the onset. Dancing with lyric phrasing and pinpoint technical accuracy, Richardson pitched the drama toward the heartbreak that can be heard in Lehar’s bittersweet music not least by facing what her affair meant to her husband.

Superbly pliant in line and supportive in partnering, Ottmann traced a boyish Camille who matured into manhood through realizing that this affair had passed beyond mere flirtation.

As the Widow, Gizella Witkowsky danced with even greater amplitude of line, generosity of phrasing, warmth and sophistication of manner, though she was prone to unsteadiness in Hynd’s fussily conceived partnered turns.

Serge Lavoie made a bemused and touching Count, dancing with refined placement and unbroken momentum. With their matched phrasing and a sense of dancing only for each other, the two proved these characters belonged together already in the ersatz-folk rituals in the second act. Both seemed greatly sobered by love by the end.

In contrast, on Friday, Chan Hon Goh offered a pert, flirtatious Valencienne to the ardent but technically effortful Camille of Jeremy Ransom. Martine Lamy brought glamour and detailed emotion to the Widow but phrased without fluency and also had trouble in the accompanied turns. Gregory Osborne made a ruggedly handsome Count and partnered considerately but seemed off his usual form, dancing with power but with raggedness.