The Bolshoi Steps Back

Some 130 years before Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost” became an unlikely framework for a British film musical, Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” served as the equally improbable basis for a full-evening Russian ballet. Both adaptations trashed their literary sources in pursuit of broad-based entertainment values, but at least Marius Petipa’s 1869 dance-comedy evolved through revisions by Petipa himself (1871), Alexander Gorsky (1900), Rostislav Zakharov (1940) and others into a distinctive, large-scale diversion with its own internal dynamic and just enough plot to hold it together.

Arguably the greatest, most varied and persuasive “Don Quixote” ever seen in Los Angeles arrived in the Shrine Auditorium four years ago, courtesy of Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet and its controversial former artistic director, Yuri Grigorovich. But now, along with other Grigorovich stagings, that version has been replaced by the new Bolshoi artistic director, Alexei Fadeyechev, with the result on view Wednesday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on the opening night of a two-week, two-venue Bolshoi visit to the Southland.

The Fadeyechev “Don Quixote” represents a step back in several senses--back to the original order of scenes, to begin with, rather than the shuffled arrangement familiar from most Western productions. In addition, it prunes away some of the cherishable choreographic additions that have become traditional inside Russia.

Unfortunately, the consequences are dire--major characters now drop out of the ballet for long stretches and sometimes for good, and any sense of a coherent narrative shape is gone. By the end, when Fadeyechev deletes the ballet’s final scene to bring the curtain abruptly down right after the grand pas de deux, his “Don Q” has become something of a shambles--inferior dramatically, scenically, every which way, to the discarded Grigorovich edition.

Make no mistake: Even now, the ballet represents a sumptuous and often exciting vehicle for the celebrated vitality and technical skill of the Bolshoi dancers. But the knockabout comedy is currently very crudely performed and even the sense of spectacle has diminished: Fadeyechev fields half the number of corps dancers in Act 3 as Grigorovich did.

Moreover, despite Alexander Sotnikov’s expert conducting, the playing of the Pacific Symphony cannot match the lustrous tone that the Bolshoi Orchestra brought to the same Minkus score four years ago at the Shrine.

But for some balletomanes, the only thing that mattered Wednesday was the chance to see Nina Ananiashvili dance Kitri in the first of three casts--and who could blame them? If the other members of the company sold the ballet to the audience, musical-comedy style, as if the future of the Bolshoi hovered in the balance (and maybe it does), Ananiashvili relaxed enough to avoid her role’s obvious spitfire cliches in favor of a memorably warm and detailed characterization.

She could look at a flower and, without moving, tell you she loves the man holding it--even if she doesn’t want to tell him. She could drift offstage in an ensemble as if lost in a dream and make you understand exactly why the title character chooses her to be his Dulcinea. And she could whip through supersonic fouettes, with risky changes of arm positions, and still look elegant and composed, even a little surprised at the ensuing ovation.

Although he didn’t match the bravura feats of Irek Mukhamedov in Bolshoi “Don Q” excerpts on this stage in 1987, or Yuri Klevtsov in the complete ballet four years ago, Andrei Uvarov brought great charm, partnering power and noble line to the role of Basil, along with the miraculous floating quality he displayed in 1996.

Strongly cast women enlivened many secondary roles: Yuliana Malkhasyants as a feisty Mercedes, Nina Kaptsova as a fleet Cupid and Maria Volodina as a mercurial castanet dancer. Maria Alexandrova doubled effectively as an Act 1 street dancer and the Act 3 soloist with the lightest jump imaginable. Less successful: the classroom-level classicism of Maria Allash as the Dryad queen and another Act 3 soloist.

The bullfighter Espada disappears midway through this version--a pity, since the last half could have used the style and force generated by Vladimir Moiseyev (grandson of the founder of the Moiseyev Dance Company).

Irina Zibrova and Ilya Ryzhakov stalked through the last-act Bolero without making much of an effect, but Anna Antropova turned the Act 2 Gypsy solo into a show-stopping showpiece. Corps-dancing ranged from the raggedness of the mixed 32-member ensemble in Act 1 to the reliable unanimity of the 24 Dryad women.

None of the mimes rose above the hard-sell style of the production, though Andrei Sitnikov (Don Quixote), Alexander Petukhov (Sancho Panza), Andrei Melanin (Gamache) and Alexei Afanasiev (Lorenzo) labored mightily.

The lighting of Mikhail Sokolov exposed every wrinkle in Sergei Barkhin’s curiously flimsy sets, with each scene designed in a different style. However, the costumes--based on sketches by Vasili Dyachkov from 1903--exemplified a sweetness and grace not often evident in the production as a whole.

* Bolshoi Ballet, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. “Don Quixote”: Sunday, 2 p.m. “Romeo and Juliet”: tonight at 7:30; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m. $25-$90. (213) 365-3500. Also Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. “Don Quixote”: Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30 p.m. “Romeo and Juliet”: June 30, 7:30 p.m.; July 1, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m.; July 2, 2 p.m. $20-$85. (714) 556-ARTS.