THE Silver Rose
Choreography by Graeme Murphy
Music by Carl Vine
The Australian Ballet
Lyric Theatre
Queensland Performing Arts Complex
South Bank
Brisbane
THIS Australian premiere production came with high expectations and promises of something truly special.
It is based on Richard Strauss’s opera Der Rosenkavalier and was premiered in 2006 at the Bavarian State Ballet; Murphy has been waiting since then to bring it to Australia.
The plot, a mix is comedy and romance tells the story of an ageing famous actress, her young lover Octavian and his infatuation for Sophie, a young girl promised to another man, who course is not so nice! Octavian is to present the girl with the silver rose, the symbol of commitment to marriage and falls madly in hopeless love. True opera fare.
There is certainly a lot of the Murphy magic in the show with dazzling choreography –particularly the pas de trois in Act Two and the pas de deux in the third act.
The dancing too was superb with Juliet Burnet as Sophie, the girl in the love triangle, outstanding and Ty King-Wall as the lovelorn Octavian. Damien Welch added his magic touch to Faninal, Sophie’s father and there was the usual touch of sheer elegance from Lucinda Dunn as the brooding actress The Marschallin, love of the young Octavian before he meets Sophie.
There were some marvellous moments of high drama, when the music matched the mood but I have to confess my two favourite characters were the Paparazzi pair, reporter Annina and photographer Valzacci. The black clad duo, danced by Gina Brescianini and Rudi Hawkes were terrific. They had some spectacular and difficult routines that they made look simple and, in true Murphy style, were created to have a huge impact on the action.
The sets and the costumes were sumptuous as promised and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under Nicolette Fraillon played Carl Vine’s score perfectly with some beautiful piano work from Stuart Macklin.
But, nicely as it was played, it was Murphy’s choice of music which pulled the production back for me. It was not specifically composed for the ballet, but selected from Vine’s portfolio. Beautiful as the score was, and I am sure I would enjoy listening to the music alone, it just was not ballet music. It did not build the dramatic tension nor emphasise the comic situations. Not did it tell or enhance the story of the ballet. At times it looked as though the dancers were performing to background music; the steps did not match the music at all.
I found the first act, with The Marschallin and Octavian pas de deux, boring. There was no real passion between the lovers and, for me the change from romance to comedy when Baron Ochs (danced with a lovely pomposity by Andrew Killian) arrives unannounced was hardly noticeable.
The scene where Octavian dresses in a maid’s outfit and the bad Baron chases him around the bedroom assuming he was a woman was laboured and not very funny. This was a scene where the mood really needed to be set by the music, but it wasn’t.
I enjoyed the second two acts much more because, in parts the music did fit the mood, and there was passion and true love and jealousy floating in the air.
My other problem was the fact that the ballet was cut into three half hour acts with two 20 minute intervals, which I found irritating. It seemed that no sooner was a mood set then it evaporated for a long interval. I am a great fan of Graeme Murphy and I was expecting something much more gripping.
The short Brisbane season ends on March 3 before moving to Melbourne 19 – 30 March (13 performances) the Arts Centre, State Theatre with Orchestra Victoria. Bookings: australianballet.com.au or 1300 369 741; Sydney 9 – 29 April (22 performances) Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House with Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Bookings: australianballet.com.au or 1300 369 74 and Adelaide 13 – 17 July (6 performances) Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Bookings: bass.net.au or 131 246
PHOTO: Symbolically dressed as a silver rose is Sophie, played by Juliet Burnet
www.absolutetheatre.com.au
