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Sat Dec 23 2006, Winnipeg Sun
In the same way The Sound of Music has become a Christmas TV staple, Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Peter Pan takes the stage in hopes of spreading holiday magic in a very non-holiday way.
No carols, no toys, no tutus and certainly no stiff nutcracker.
Instead, the lively family ballet lands with a cast of diverse characters, the brightest light being principal dancer Vanessa Lawson's Tinkerbell.
With Wendy Darling (first soloist Emily Grizzell) and brothers John and Michael in slumber, a spark flashes by their bedroom window and Poof! -- there's Tink in her minty green garb, a disheveled flex-footed nymph with an attitude problem.
Lawson has mastered Pan's sidekick's clumsy comic presence, her wispy frame working wonders for the fairy's spastic demeanor, and her tight, fluttery, captive-butterfly movements are a refreshing alternative to the refined Sugar Plum Fairy from that other Christmas ballet RWB had been putting on for two decades.
Peter Pan (second soloist Yosuke Mino) is calm and cool as a hip-hop mogul, even though the flying harness he wears for the extent of the two-hour show has gotta be chafing him. Mino gets the most airtime (Lawson, Grizzell and the two boys also leave ground level), and his confident smirk as he floats around, charming newfound love Wendy out the window and dodging Hook's sword isn't for show -- he's actually having fun.
The ballet itself, choreographed by RWB School's associate director Jorden Morris, goes pretty much by the book J.M. Barrie penned in 1904. A young boy (Peter) lures Wendy and her brothers from London to Neverland, a mystical island where Lost Boys fight pirates and no one grows up.
But anyone who's read it would know its British lingo and slow-moving plot don't exactly make it the literary equivalent to Dora the Explorer. So keep in mind the kids will be asking for storyline details and could be bored by the long, fluid -- though well arranged by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra -- classical soundtrack.
Instead, the biggest kiddie draws are the brief swordfights between Pan and a less menacing than usual Hook (Jaime Vargas), an enchanting fairy dance and a pack of easily outwitted pirates. The hungry crocodile (Alexander Gamayunov) and Neverland princess Tigerlily's (CindyMarie Small) pas de deux is also an unconventional charm.
Peter Pan's most precious moments occur in the children's bedroom, a sanctuary for warm, fuzzy exchanges between the Darling family. Grizzell's Wendy is a tomboyish alternate to the heavily glittered pixies on set, and her brothers (Filip Kurlowicz and Nikita Kopotun) are playful distractions when others are caught up in a whirl of pirouettes.
Vargas and Small do double duty as Mr. and Mrs. Darling, and perform a loving pas de deux that sets a tenderhearted tone before all that Neverland beeswax kicks in.
It's one of the most Christmasy moments in a show that thinks it needs a flashy new pirate ship set and a leading cast who are poised when suspended several metres in the air to make holiday magic.
As Mrs. Darling kisses her offspring goodnight, we get that tingly, cozy feeling you hope to feel this time of year -- and that's when we're hooked.
Peter Pan takes flight again today at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and continues next week until New Year's Eve. Tickets cost $28 - $70 or $20 for kids under 16 at Ticketmaster.
DANCE REVIEW
Peter Pan
Until Dec. 31 @ Centennial Concert Hall.
***1/2 out of *****
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