Le Corsaire: Adventure of Pirates, Pashas and Virtuosos

By ANNA KISSELGOFF

NEW YORK -- Too many cooks usually spoil the bouillabaisse and borscht. But "Le Corsaire," an adventure yarn of a 19th-century French-Russian ballet, turned into an overnight hit for American Ballet Theater, thanks to a felicitous gaggle of producers and coaches from two continents.

It is easy to see why the work looked so spectacular on Friday night at the Metropolitan Opera House when the company presented its first staging of a three-act "Corsaire." The production, based on a 1997 Boston Ballet version, is a fabulous machine for dancing.

Not even the Kirov Ballet from Russia could field such depth of talent in all the leading roles in its own full-evening "Corsaire" here in 1989 as Ballet Theater did this weekend.

Wonderfully assertive but careful to keep a clean classical line, Picone was all flair and flourish. Trained in his native Italy and most recently a member of the English National Ballet, he has slowly worked up to his matinee-idol image in this, his first season with Ballet Theater. Sex appeal is the secret here. But as with Rudolph Valentino in the tango, it's the dancing that counts.

A pirate who points his toes perfectly? Not to worry. The story is less important in "Le Corsaire" than the choreography, whose most classical vestiges are derived from Marius Petipa's 1899 version for the Maryinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia.

But from the moment the curtain rose on Vladimir Malakhov, as the slave dealer bursting with energy in a Turkish bazaar, it was clear that this was to be an all-star evening. Angel Corella was Birbanto, a fiery pirate in a character-dance role that has been enhanced with extra bravura.

Ashley Tuttle had the supporting classical role as Gulnare, another slave captive, and Jose Manuel Carreno, was splendid in the role Rudolf Nureyev made famous as the slave lying at Margo Fonteyn's feet in the pas de deux known for short as "Le Corsaire."

But, as the Kirov taught us, this pas de deux was originally a pas de trois, and here again Medora was alternately partnered by Conrad, who gets an extra solo, and Carreno, dancing the familiar choreography as Ali, Conrad's slave.

To get through the web of characters has not been easy, even for 19th-century choreographers. The Ballet Theater "Corsaire" is the latest of many versions. The Boston Ballet production is itself based on a 1992 version for the Bolshoi Ballet by Konstantin Sergeyev, onetime star and director of the Kirov.

Kevin McKenzie, Ballet Theater's artistic director, requested that the Boston production be tightened and made more dramatically coherent. Anna-Marie Holmes, the Boston Ballet's new director, has restaged that production with past or present members of the Kirov: Tatyana Legat, Tatyana Terekhova and Serge Berejnoi (now a ballet master at the Boston Ballet).

One result is that more dancing gets crammed into Act I, and the evening gets off to an uplifting start that telegraphs the virtue of this version: entertainment pure and simple. Malakhov, as Lankendem, the slave dealer, makes something major of a potentially minor role, never overdoing the comic potential of his villain, always giving his solos an extraordinary flexibility and lightness.

This was especially true in the "Pas d'Esclave" pas de deux where Miss Tuttle, initially veiled, shielded her face from him while showing off first-class classical form. "Le Corsaire" very loosely derived from a poem by Byron, has the same mix of character and classical dancing of all 19th-century spectaculars.

This eclecticism was clear from the start when Corella's power came to the fore. His energy never flagged even when he and Elizabeth Ferrell, dancing excellently, led two ensembles in what looked like a hodgepodge of various ethnic dances.

Pride of place belongs nonetheless to the classical set pieces. Ms. Ananiashvili, carried in veiled and sold to a pasha, danced with customary amplitude but she could also tease the same resident pasha, subtly acted by Michael Owen, with delightfully detailed small steps.

Oksana Konobeyeva and Sandra Brown did well enough Friday as two of the odalisqes and came closer to Ms. Murphy's stunning level Saturday night. When Conrad rescued Medora and took her to his pirate lair, Carreno was his magnificent virtuoso self in the pas de trois with Ms. Ananiashvili, dancing in full ballerina mode, and Picone.

To suggest the choreography is all Petipa is to forget the many Soviet ballet masters who changed the ballet over the decades. The love duet for Medora and Conrad in the grotto is in a fluent Soviet style, and even most of the male choreography was created in the Soviet era. But when Birbanto leads a mutiny and Medora is returned to the pasha, one can believe that Petipa's choreography is still visible in the pasha's dream.

Here Ms. Ananiashvili and Miss Tuttle led units of little girls and a female corps in a symmetrical floral arrangement, the divertissement known as "Jardin Anime." It was lovely.

And so was Julie Kent, leading Saturday night's cast and hitting her stride in Act II with an unexpectedly subdued Carreno as Conrad and a polished Picone as Ali. John Selya as Birbanto, was splendid in his exceptional vigor and Paloma Herrera gave Gulnare a superbly girlish dazzle. Charles Barker conducted the eclectic score by five 19th-century composers.

Monday, June 22, 1998 Copyright 1998 The New York Times