Reviews for The Young Lady and the Hooligan/ The Bedbug/ Leningrad Symphony
Review: Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) in The Young Lady and the Hooligan/ The Bedbug/ Leningrad Symphony at Coliseum
Rudolf Nureyev left the USSR and the Kirov when he defected at Le Bourget airport in June 1961; Leonid Jakobson’s The Bedbug premiered a year later; perhaps Rudi saw it coming! Originally a satirical play… Continue Reading
Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) in The Young Lady and the Hooligan/ The Bedbug/ Leningrad Symphony at Coliseum
‘Musically, this is a terrific idea, but great music does not automatically inspire great ballets, as Tuesday’s triple bill demonstrated.’
Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) in The Young Lady and the Hooligan/ The Bedbug/ Leningrad Symphony at Coliseum
‘It is usually a pleasure to welcome the Mariinsky (formerly Kirov) ballet back to London, and the breadth of its repertoire is such that you would seldom be disappointed by a choice of programme. But this short season at the Coliseum didn’t follow the norm.’
Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) in The Young Lady and the Hooligan/ The Bedbug/ Leningrad Symphony at Coliseum
‘A salutary aspect of Soviet-era choreography is the glimpse it affords of what Russian dance might have been like without the civilising influence of the French in the 19th century.’
Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) in The Young Lady and the Hooligan/ The Bedbug/ Leningrad Symphony at Coliseum
‘This brief dance outing for Shostakovich is, I feel, mistaken. Whatever the merits of the scores, the ballets (even with Leningrad Symphony as focus) are choreographic revenants rather than flesh-and-blood dance.’
Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) in The Young Lady and the Hooligan/ The Bedbug/ Leningrad Symphony at Coliseum
‘The triple bill looked a good bet, with three choreographers taking on music that is generously entertaining, often so tuneful as to make Dvorják weep, and nicely chopped up into numbers for ease of use.’
Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) in The Young Lady and the Hooligan/ The Bedbug/ Leningrad Symphony at Coliseum
‘Assembled as a centenary tribute to Shostakovich, the Mariinsky Ballet’s mixed bill also offers an interesting account of Soviet choreographers’ experiments in creative imagery.’
Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) in The Young Lady and the Hooligan/ The Bedbug/ Leningrad Symphony at Coliseum
‘Given the routine rewriting of history during the Soviet era, it is not surprising that this Mariinsky programme of Shostakovich ballets from the early 1960s should offer a skewed snapshot of that period.’
Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) in The Young Lady and the Hooligan/ The Bedbug/ Leningrad Symphony at Coliseum
‘The dancers of the Mariinsky Ballet (formerly the Kirov) prance with tireless, mirthless zaniness, wrists flapping, elbows joggling.’
Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) in The Young Lady and the Hooligan/ The Bedbug/ Leningrad Symphony at Coliseum
‘The ballets — all set to Shostakovich — are, for the most part, unfamiliar, revealing a side of the company we don’t often see.’