BALLET REVIEW: LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE
JOHN COULBOURN - Special to TorSun
01 MAR 2012
R: 4.5/5

Pictured: Piotr Stanczyk

Outside, it may seem that spring is caught up in a never-ending game of cat and mouse with the winter that never was, but inside — on the stage of the Four Seasons Centre, at least — the season we are all yearning for by this time of year seems to be busting out all over, to borrow a phrase.

For even though the bucolic setting of Sir Frederick Ashton’s enduring ballet, LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE is all tied up with harvest celebrations, it also fairly bristles with signs of spring, not the least of which is a dazzling dance around a Maypole. And just how much fun can be had around a Maypole became wonderfully evident when, after having left it on the shelf for a decade, The National Ballet of Canada shook the dust and cobwebs off this balletic confection and trotted it out for the pleasure of its audience Wednesday.

In the process, they proved that Ashton’s timeless tale is, well, sort of timeless, in a truly delightful sort of way, a notion supported by Sir Osbert Lancaster’s sets and costumes, both of which have passed the stage of appearing simply dated, and moved, with an enviable grace, into the realm of the delightfully old-fashioned. Which is as good a description as any for the ballet itself, a tale of ardent young love that refuses to be thwarted, regardless of what is thrown in its way.

As the title implies, it centres around Lise, a beautiful young maiden danced by Sonia Rodriguez, who is intended, at least in the mind of her guardian, the Widow Simone (played in every sense of the word by Matjash Mrozewski), for great things, at least on the matrimonial front. But while Simone sees Lise as a mate worthy of someone wealthy like Alain (Skylar Campbell), the simple son of a wealthy neighbour, Lise has other ideas, all of them involving Colas, a lusty young farmer, joyously danced by Piotr Stanczyk.

And despite the best efforts of the determined Simone and Alain’s equally bullheaded father (Kevin D. Bowles), young love proves, in the course of this two hour romp, that it will not be denied. And along the way, Ashton pulls one choreographic delight after another from his balletic bag of tricks, combining everything from a delightfully off-the-wall chicken dance in classical style to the aforementioned Maypole, throwing in yards of extraneous ribbon, a live horse pulling a cunning little cart and a wonderful red umbrella, all to maximum effect.

But finally, that all proves mere setting and, it is in the performances that this work truly shines. With David Briskin in firm control of the NBOC Orchestra, serving up all the delight of Ferdinand Hérold’s score like so much fine champagne, Stanczyk and Rodriguez are the epitome of young lovers, drunk on the delight they find in each other, although, on occasion, one might wish for just a touch more joyful intoxication from the latter. Meanwhile, Mrozewksi and Campbell mine pure comedic gold, the former proving he could give most panto dames a run for their crinolines, the latter, enriching Alain’s simplicity with such sweetness, that he becomes simply adorable.

Which is not to say that it is all sweetness and light. Choreographed more than half a century ago, the work embraces a few social anachronisms that sit a little awkwardly on a modern stage. And while the comedic depictions of corporal punishment Ashton wove into the tale don’t render it unstageable in a modern world, they do require a second or two of adjustment in a world where such behaviour is considered largely unacceptable. Still, when a bowl of cherries is this sweet, it’s churlish to complain about even a few pits.