The Stage, UK
by Natalie Anglesey
The very title of this production may prove anathema to balletomanes but this glossy attempt to transform ballet into an ice extravaganza is proving big business.
Presented by the Imperial Ice Stars, this UK premiere kick starts a 26-week national tour before the company sets off again touring the world. The story is very loosely based on the original ballet with some radical changes, including a happy ending. Tchaikovsky's music too has been altered and is pre-recorded by the Manchester Light Symphony Orchestra. However bearing all that in mind, this s still a splendid example of the very best of ice dancing.
Artistic director and choreographer Tony Mercer has assembled an extraordinary cast of 26 terrific skaters, headed by the beautiful Olga Sharutenko as Odette, who glides across the ice like poetry in motion. She also dances on point and is superbly partnered by Vadim Yarkov as Prince Siegfried, who is elegantly restrained in the lyrical movements but strong as an ox when he lifts both Odette and Odile in a superb pas de trois. Olena Pyatash is a fiery Odile and Andrei Penkine is a flirty Benno but the show is nearly stolen by the flamboyant skating of Anton Klykov as the malevolent, Rothbart.
There are occasions when this spectacular show looks rather like Disney on Ice but bookings of 80% capacity are a healthy start for this national tour which attempts to make this ice version of Swan Lake accessible.