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A
living
doll with star quality
Coppélia
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Birmingham Hippodrome
***** IF the sky was a little brighter over Thorp Street last night it was all down to BRB's newest star Momoko Hirata. We have
seen her
before of course, most recently dancing the same role of Swanhilda with
the boss, BRB director David Bintley in an Evening of Music and Dance at
Symphony Hall. But on the opening night of
Peter Wright’s production of Coppélia she positively shone. It was a
dazzling performance displaying exquisite footwork, precise, and
remarkably deft, full of confidence, well acted and beautifully danced. She gave us a coquettish
Swanhilda, showing her displeasure when she is ignored by Dr Coppélius’s
lifelike doll, a nice cameo from Miki Mizutani, and even m César Morales as Franz is a
perfect foil for the diminutive Hirata. He is powerful, athletic and an
easy fit for the role, dancing with a permanent twinkle in his eye. Hirata showed a lovely bent
for comedy in the second act as she pretends to be Coppélia, the doc’s
clockwork doll while the pas de deux with Morales in La Paix in Act III
is just stunning. A mention too for the virtuoso violin of Robin Gibbs,
leader of the consistently excellent Royal Ballet Sinfonia. His playing
matched the dancing both in the La Paix and Ballade in Act I.
Not that it was all the
leading pair though, the first Act was as good as you are likely to see,
bright and lively with wonderful dancing from the entire cast, starting
with Swanhilda’s six girl friends, so convincing you almost expected
them to put their handbags in the centre of the stage to dance around. They were matched by a troop
of travelling Gypsies, with lead dancer Daria Stanciulescu most
impressive dancing with Franz, a deux to far and one which really does
get Swanhilda’s tutu in a twist. Mind you I do wonder, even in Léo Delibes 19th
century France, how often a troop of passing gypsies suddenly turned up
mid morning for a village square dance. We miss out on these pastoral
scenes these days. The standard is maintained in the subsequent acts
with Michael O’Hare superb in the character role of
Dr Coppélius, and his interaction with Hirata is a joy. His doctor could
be straight from a Hollywood cartoon with his exaggerated eccentricity
and quick dainty footsteps so he seemingly glides across the stage. His
is a character full of explanatory gestures to tell the story and we
feel genuinely sorry for him when he realises he has been tricked by
Swanhilda and his beloved doll is a cryin', talkin', sleepin',
walkin' far from livin’ and now broken doll. Act III sees the Duke, danced
by Yasuo Atsuis, holding a party to celebrate presenting a new bell to
the village church, as well as gifts of gold to Franz and Swanhilda
along with two more couples getting married that day. As it is a party then it is a
time for party pieces with lovely solos from Yvette Knight as Dawn and
Jenna Robert as Prayer as well as an energetic dance in the call to arms
by Mathias Dingman and eight male dancers, all before Rory Mackay as
Father Time, looking a bit like Gandalf’s long lost brother. The production, first seen in
1995, is enhanced by Peter Farmer’s splendidly sumptuous designs from
the bucolic village scene, to the gloomy gothic workshop of Dr Coppélius
and finally the evening garden of the Duke. Mind you Dr Coppélius could
well be related to Dr Who the way his small, village cottage, like the
famed police box, hides a huge interior. The good doctor is paid compensation for his
damaged doll, everyone lives happily every after and heads off home with
a smile on their face, including the audience. To 28-02-15 Roger Clarke
24-02-15
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displeasure when her sweetheart Franz, shows more than a passing
interest in the mysterious girl on the good doc’s workshop balcony.