DANCE AT MEGARON – THE BOLSHOI BALLET LIVE FROM MOSCOW
In collaboration with Pathé Live
Live broadcast from Moscow
Music: Léo Delibes
Choreography: Arthur Saint-Léon & Sergei Vikharev
Libretto: Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter
The Bolshoi Principal Dancers, Soloists, and Corps de Ballet
Based upon two E. T. A. Hoffmann stories, Der Sandmann [The Sandman] and Die Puppe [The Doll], this famous ballet is about the love of Franz, a village youth, for the ‘daughter’ of an inventor, Dr Coppélius. In reality, the ‘daughter’ is a doll that Coppélius wants to bring to life by stealing Franz’s soul. But Franz’s fiancée Swanhilda will not give up: she dresses up in the doll’s clothes and pretends that it has come to life, in order to save Franz and win him back. Mistaken-identity comedy with a happy ending!
This superb revival of the original 19th-century choreography includes a spirited heroine, an unfaithful fiancé, and an old scheming doll maker. The famous divertissements and the Valse des heures [Waltz of the Hours] are exquisitely performed by the corps de ballet, with youthful exuberance and irrepressible humour.