Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.There comes a moment in every golden age Hollywood musical when the curtain goes up, the camera zooms in and the theatre walls fly away. The “stage” becomes a thing of infinite space peopled by beautiful women all doing the same beautiful things. English National Ballet’s 1997 Swan Lake, back at the Royal Albert Hall for 14 performances, creates the same Busby Berkeley magic in real time — and without the luxury of retakes.It was, amazingly, Derek Deane’s very first crack at staging a Swan Lake (and only his fourth full-evening ballet), but he found creative solutions that fill the space and mitigate the tricky sightlines of the venue. Supersized ensembles open out to face all four points of the compass and even the big set pieces are reconfigured. The lifts in the lakeside pas de deux are delivered two to the south, two to the north and Odette’s exultant relevé-passé solo is likewise shared between both halves of the house.The first two performances were led by debutant couples, a high-risk strategy that re-energised the familiar tale. Sangeun Lee was a soulful, fine-boned Odette on opening night, partnered by Gareth Haw. The Welsh first soloist made a handsome, eager Prince (he often outran his follow spot) whose long line and lordly bearing made an impact in the vast “O” of the hall. The following day, Francesco Gabriele Frola gave a more nuanced reading. The subtle droop of the head and the rubato phrasing of his act one soliloquy revealed Siegfried’s unhappiness just as his thrilling manège of leaps in act three embodied his (misplaced) joy at re-encountering the swan of his dreams. Frola’s Odette/Odile was Ivana Bueno, still a humble junior soloist, who delivered a seemingly nerveless performance. Like Lee, she opted to calibrate the Black Swan’s 32 fouettés so that her smiles could dazzle all parts of the house. Deane is no fan of fancy fouettés but it felt more like good manners than a circus trick.ENB is well stocked with weighty character players. Jane Haworth was an implacable Queen. Michael Coleman, at 84, brought the bumbling old tutor vividly to life in act one then acted half his age as the act three Master of Ceremonies. James Streeter (first night) and Fabian Reimair (second) made dastardly Rothbarts, filling the space with grand gestures, capes billowing behind them like spent parachutes.The orchestra (give or take the brass section) was on splendid form under Gavin Sutherland, one eye on the strings and the other on the action, modulating his often brisk tempi to the needs of the soloists.With no curtain, no fly tower and no wings, it is hard to magic the corps de ballet in and out of shot. The act one ensembles are obliged to enter via the stalls aisles (given the Albert Hall’s relaxed policy on latecomers it’s a miracle they don’t all end up in the Polonaise). The 60 swans make a less prosaic entrance. They surge out from beneath the organ, flooding the stage with white tulle, gliding through Deane’s crystalline floor patterns like a big snowy kaleidoscope.★★★★☆To June 23, ballet.org.uk
