Mariinskiy intendant Ivan Vsevolozhsky turns out to have moonlighted as one of the great costume designer in balletic history.
That was clear in Sergei Vikharev’s 1999 restoration of The Sleeping Beauty. It’s also clear in Alexei Ratmansky’s delightful restoration of Petipa’s Harlequinade for ABT, in which Robert Perdziola’s design credit lists the 1900 originals as inspiration.
ABT performs it through Saturday night.
Together with Raymonda, and Vikharev’s 2007 restoration of The Awakening of Flora, we’ve got more than enough evidence as well to prove that in his final decade of creative work Petipa found ways to recap all his old tricks into piquant new magic acts.
Mary Cargill at Dance View Times takes stock of the old wines and the new bottles.