NEWS

Tue, 11th Mar 2014

The Mikhailovsky Ballet premiere their production of Sir Frederick Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardée staged by Mikhail Messerer at their theatre in St. Petersburg on 27th March 2014.

This production by Frederick Ashton was created for the Royal Ballet in 1960.

The oldest ballet title performed today, dating from 1789, is La Fille Mal Gardée.
It was probably first performed in Russia in 1808 staged by Charles Didelot, a pupil of Dauberval, who had danced in the original version in Bordeaux.

It was first performed at the Maly Opera Theatre (now called the Mikhailovsky Theatre) in 1937 choreographed by Leonid Lavrovsky. La Fille Mal Gardée was next staged by the Maly Opera Theatre during the war years when the outstanding choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov, who founded the Mikhailovsky ballet company in 1933, staged his version when the theatre was evacuated during the war in Chkalov (Orenburg) on 1 May 1944. In 1971, Oleg Vinogradov staged his production of the work, which was revived in a new version in 2005 and remained in the repertoire until 2007.

This version choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, the classic exponent of British ballet, is staged by ballet master Mikhail Messerer, using Osbert Lancaster’s original design and John Lanchbery’s arrangement of Ferdinand Hérold’s music.

The ballet has survived revolutions and social upheavals, and has crossed national borders to become a firm fixture in theatres on every continent. In spite of its venerable age, La Fille Mal Gardée successfully competes for public attention alongside more recent popular ballets.

Gavin Roebuck managed arrangements for the ballet to be performed by the Mikhailovsky.

The casts:
Lisa
Vorontsova
Bondyreva
Soboleva
Kuligina

Colas
Zaytsev
Lebedev
Vasiliev
Sarafanov

«Back

What's on and Tickets »