Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake

By West Village Bill

Lou and I caught the spectacular return of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at City Center Wednesday night. It's running through Sunday, with tickets still available at many price points, and you owe it to yourself to catch it if you can. Or to get all anxiety-inducing about it—and to quote the London Independent's ringing endorsement of the show that's being used in its marketing materials—"See it or live to regret it."

The dancers are all terrific. The main roles have rotating performers; we saw the smolderingly sexy Jonathan Ollivier as the Swan/Stranger. (That's Richard Winsor in the publicity photo that I took from the City Center website.)

The story, based on Tchaikovsky's ballet, is told movingly through dance. The Prince is smitten with a tacky girlfriend whom the alternately icy and hot-blooded Queen strongly disapproves of. He also falls for a sexy swooping Swan, who has a whiteness of violent cobs in tow. And a handsome Stranger seduces everyone, with tragic consequences.

The main negative of this production is the canned music. After it leaves New York, the company, sans orchestra, is flying off to Milan.