With stellar leads and lively action, the famed ballet company revisits John Neumeier’s timeless work—putting its dynamic cast through its finely-tuned soulful wringer.
Milan’s Teatro alla Scala is exploring what narrative dance can do, and it seems its streak of poignancy has been blooming with increasing velocity since L’Histoire de Manon’s staging back in July. What are the deep truths and clever parallels between 19th-century ballet and the modern day?
Ask John Neumeier’s woman, La Dame Aux Camélias, back at the famed Italian stage after seven years, which has been portrayed in many guises since Alexandre Dumas Fils’ novel was first published in 1848. Neumeir’s 1978 adaptation, revived by the Dutch National Ballet with Anna Tsygankova and James Stout as Marguerite Gaultier and Armand Duval, still bewitches with its remarkably fresh and absorbingly thrilling throughline.
Through Jürgen Rose’s staging and costumes, La Scala’s performance radiates a very lavish French 19th-century aristocratic atmosphere. Rose’s costumes are opulent whilst the stage is sparingly yet effectively organised and well-lit. A chaise, a mirror, an on-stage piano, some ample chairs: it’s simple, but worked well.
Photograph: Brescia e Amisano
The score moves from subtle to dramatic, drawn from Chopin’s solo piano works, concertos and the Andante spianato. Simon Hewitt is a soulfully-driven conductor, who avoids adding bombast in the most famous pieces and allows the listener to appreciate the melodies in a careful manner. It’s honey for sour ears: I was particularly touched by the first and conclusive piece played with vehemence and subtlety by Vanessa Benelli Mosell.
Benelli Mosel’s brilliance, though, is to make the piano the heart of the story – with lead dancers translating it into dance form. That brings us to the actual drama, and what drama it is. Roberto Bolle and Nicoletta Manni conveyed this story of wrecked love with clarity. Dumas fils’ tale is well known: Armand falls in love with the courtesan Marguerite, who is slowly passing away from consumption.
Photograph: Brescia e Amisano
Once in love, they relocate to the countryside but Armand’s father disapproves and convinces her to abandon her lover to protect his family’s reputation. Armand, not knowing why she went, is fueled by despair and revenge that he humiliates her publicly. When the illness finally hits her, Armand is handed her diary by her maid. And that’s when the exhilarating, absorbing vein of the ballet unfolds: upon reading it, he discovers the truth that Marguerite never stopped loving him, leaving him heartbroken.
In full Romantic fashion, romance only works if dancers are fully committed. After a few moments of restraint in the first act, Manni grew into thralls of love helped by Bolle’s daring throws and lifts. Doing this with imposing costumes is no mean feat, but there were never times when they got stuck or had to be adjusted mid-move. Bolle’s character acted radiantly and love-struck, yet at the end his remorse felt formidable, showing he’s brilliant at delivering convincing steps through dazzling grand jetès en tournant.
Photograph: Brescia e Amisano
Manni, with her slender lines, played Marguerite with impassioned drama, initially resistant but ascending into a moving characterisation in the second act. Her pleading with Armand’s father in the second act was especially riveting, embodying a soulful plea for mercy.
The couple’s virtuoso dancing gave the audience much to swoon about, from the seduction to their last shreds of intensity. After all, Neuimer’s assorted dance lexicon is devoted to the continuous unfolding of tragic storytelling, which is why this romance works well.
In a remarkable final scene, Manni writes her last lines in a chaise placed at the back of the stage, tumbling forward and, later on, passing away while Bolle reads this last page facing the audience. Stellar technique, with a pleasing chemistry to match.
Neumeier weaves through the ballet as a play-within-a-play thread that has you in your feels. Other notable performances included Caterina Bianchi dancing in the role of Olympia, bringing vibrancy, warmth, and effortless command to her irreverent chassès; she hops on pointe with the same ease as walking.
Photograph: Brescia e Amisano
Also worthy of note was Virna Toppi—in the role of Prudence—who dances with astonishing freedom after returning from her first maternity leave, filling her character both with the radiance of her musicality and the thrill of her gestures. Impressive performances count those of Martina Arduino (Manon) and Nicola Del Freo (Des Grieux) mirroring a delicate movement, always elegant, full of delightful lifts and balances.
“As Director of La Scala’s ballet company, I’m excited for the return of this masterpiece by John Neumeier,” opines Manuel Legris, Director of Teatro alla Scala’s corps de ballet. “[I’m also excited] to show the audience three different casts in the main roles of Marguerite and Armand, first and foremost the opening one that sees together Nicoletta Manni and Roberto Bolle for the first time, our two étoiles, which seems to me a beautiful and symbolic occasion to inaugurate this return of the ‘Dame’ to La Scala.”
Photograph: Brescia e Amisano
He then adds how the ballet holds an important theatrical component throughout, as it “shines a beautiful light on the whole company, and on all the young artists who hand at this production for the first time.” Legris deems La Dame aux camélias a ballet that makes one grow artistically, explaining how he’s “happy that the new generation can be confronted with Neumeier’s style and that La Scala’s audience will have this new opportunity to experience a thrilling drama.”
Seven years since her last performance, étoile Nicoletta Manni still cherishes her role in the production, speaking candidly and with utter excitement. “Last night, La Dame aux camélias returned to the stage after seven years since my debut,” says Manni in a preview.
Photograph: Brescia e Amisano
“I danced it with Roberto Bolle for the first time, a partnership that after last year’s Onegin is being consolidated. I’m particularly happy to play the character of Marguerite once again at this moment in my life: after such a long time, so many things have changed, new experiences happened, and for me it’s the birth of a new Marguerite because she’s a character that never stops evolving, and last night was my first evolution because after years I’m in her shoes again,” Mani says.
“She’s a particularly complex character because of her double personality: a heart that yearns for love but has a mask; a mask with which she presents herself to other people, but behind it hides a pure soul.”
All in all, La Dame is a great ballet, portraying such a classic romance without plunging into stale melodrama. Albeit its initial constraints, its impassioned vulnerability is what makes it quite a feat.
by Chidozie Obasi