Some ‘Jewels’ shine more than others

Because it reflects nearly every facet of Euro-American ballet classicism -- every major epoch and style in the development of the art -- choreographer George Balanchine’s full-evening “Jewels” has become a showpiece that major companies covet to display their prowess and plenitude.

This plotless, three-part statement of heritage should belong, body and soul, to New York City Ballet, which premiered it in 1967 and danced it at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, the opening of a two-week season in two Southland venues. But Miami City Ballet and the Kirov have each offered distinctive interpretations on local stages recently. And the NYCB production and casting were by no means ideal.

Indeed, what should have been the triumphant finale of the occasion -- “Diamonds,” choreographed in imperial Russian style to music by Tchaikovsky -- suffered from ill-chosen principals and the only flat, workaday corps dancing of the evening.

This is a type of ballet that Balanchine made many times in his career -- the large-scale homage to 19th century master dance-maker Marius Petipa -- and without special handling it can look formulaic next to “Theme and Variations” (1947), “Allegro Brillante” (1956) and other, earlier examples.

On Wednesday, alas, Peter Harvey’s set looked like a drab “Nutcracker” backdrop, down to its dangling crystal snowflakes, and Karinska’s tutus piled so many large gemstones on the women’s chests, they looked armor-plated.

The lead couple belonged elsewhere. Nilas Martins’ proportions and effortful execution kept him from seeming the ideal embodiment of classical elegance. Saddest of all, Wendy Whelan sacrificed nearly everything that makes her an exciting Balanchine dancer in pursuit of the serene, majestic prima-ballerina aura that her role demands. Apart from some mangled supported turns, Whelan’s performance offered exemplary technical authority, but she banked her fires too thoroughly and often looked very small on a very large stage.

Harvey, Karinska and the company made a better case for playful American neoclassicism in “Rubies” (to Stravinsky), which featured Cameron Grant as piano soloist and an up-from-the-corps discovery named Teresa Reichlen giving a star performance of what’s normally a secondary role.

No longer. Saucy, slinky and utterly bored by the cavaliers thronging to partner her, Reichlen pulled your gaze into the remarkable bravado of the choreography -- the way Balanchine superimposed on the classical vocabulary a number of sports, ballroom and show-dance motifs. She also provided the primary statement of “Rubies” eroticism, a quality missing in the relationship of the lead couple.

Dancing like brother and sister, Damian Woetzel and Alexandra Ansanelli polished every step, partnering feat and throwaway gambit without losing a sense of spontaneity. Tiny Ansanelli capitalized on the highest leg-swings imaginable, and Woetzel looked happiest every time Balanchine asked for high-velocity turning-leaps.

What they missed (besides a sense of foreplay) was a dimension beyond honed professionalism: a realization that “Rubies” isn’t just challenges and opportunities but a unique world teeming with secrets that only they understand.

That awareness is exactly what made the performance of “Emeralds” so memorable. Nobody told conductor Andrea Quinn and the fine NYCB Orchestra that they were assigned minor Faure, so they made an extraordinary case for the power and atmosphere of this music. Nobody told the dancers that they were stuck in a mere curtain raiser to better-known choreographies, so they danced “Emeralds” as if it alone was what everyone bought tickets to see.

Using brief mime fragments and fleeting moments of dancer interplay, Balanchine suggested hidden relationships from some long-lost story ballet of early French Romanticism. Rachel Rutherford and Robert Tewsley understood the context and proved especially sensitive to the work’s shifting emotional currents. Other principals included a stoic Jenifer Ringer and an ardent James Fayette, plus Ashley Bouder, Arch Higgins and Megan Fairchild in the trio.

But the company as a whole should be credited for balancing celebratory actions with a profound feeling of impending loss, giving this elusive, underappreciated jewel of a ballet a special radiance.

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New York City Ballet

Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

When: 8 p.m. tonight ; 2 p.m. (“Jewels” with a different cast) and 8 p.m. Saturday; 12:30 and 5:30 p.m. Sunday

Price: $25 to $95

Contact: (714) 556-2787

Also

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and next Friday; 8 p.m. Thursday; 2 and 8 p.m. Oct. 9; 2 p.m. Oct. 10

Price: $25 to $95

Contact: (213) 365-3500, (714) 740-7878