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The production, designed by Jens Jacob Worsaae, once more was borrowed from the Royal Danish Ballet

For starters under the empathic baton of Martin West Kirill Zaretsky and Pascal Molat provided us with the Marius Petipa/Miguel de Cervantes Mutt and Jeff formula, Molat as Sancho Panza, Zaretsky as Don Quixote. The grand mime tradition was clear in the Prologue where Zaretsky’s tapered fingers over a dusty tome, other set near furrowed brow provided an “ah-ha” abetted by Molat’s Donald Duck expression to the audience when confronted with Don Q’s decision to go a questing. It hinted full-blooded development. Aided by his cunning and constant purloining of victuals, Molat's actions punctuated the drama, absurd,facilitating, dogged,every step of the way as Zaretsky swept invisible cob webs from his lofty vision.

For Act I, Mercedes came a swooping, in black lace, followed by Espada. Muriel Maffre and Moises Martin brought the pair into the circle of the villagers, Moises the arch, arrogant macho, Maffre an elegant senorita not above giving her share of fire to wayward attentions of her toreador. Seeing Maffre in back bends and torso arched forward was a freeze-frame with a bit of tear duck action; she has never looked lovelier, more authoritative, more into a role, more articulate. On the side lines she watched attentively, participated in group scenes, accented a movement stage center, supporting its effect. Incredible to think she is 41 and will dance her farewell performance May 6.

Martin’s toreador worked best with Maffre; at times in solo, he seemed ill at ease with the extraverted bull-slaying role; at other times the posture, the hauteur was perfection.

The townsfolk lined up in a diagonal; anticipatory sounds rose from the pit and from upstage left Kitri emerged in a series of grand jetes to down stage right. Zahorian was in the part from the first thrust of her jetes. She came across as a ballerina in Cynthia Harvey style: charm, facility, no nonsense, musical. Accents in phrasing happened in expected and unexpected places, not repeated in a sequence of three or four repeated moves, a freeing from formula, while the shape of the variation or the solo remained consistent. She clearly was enjoying playing off and with Karapetyan.
 

Vanessa Zahorian and Davit Karapetyan in Tomasson/Possokhov's Don Quixote
© Erik Tomasson and SFB

Outside of one shot at Fancy Free, this was Karapetyan’s first real opportunity in a role; he shone. Once more he recalled Youskevitch’s stage presence, if taller, longer and more tapered of line. The slight smile, self-possession, pleasure in matching wits and flirtation with Kitri; the conspiracy of lovers against the money-minded Lorenzo evoked Igor’s famous pairing with Alonso. Karapetyan’s extraordinarily high a la seconde degage flashed effectively several times; a taller dancer he executed bravura phrases, meant for a compact technician, brilliantly. The rapport with Zahorian was unmistakable, his only real miss was histiming in the fake suicide; she covered with an abundant display of Latin emotional excess.

Down stage left area in Act I was devoted Ashley Wheater’s extravagant protestations as Lorenzo while Anita Paciotti’s mother vainly attempted to keep husband, Sancho Panza and Damian Smith’s Gamache into some form of civilized behavior. Smith’s pastel-dripping, overaged fop, legs buckling, balance uncertain, is one of the company’s great character portrayals; to see him crumple down from the donkey in the Windmill scene is a study in humiliation, “bloody but unbowed”; one knows he’s never been near a stable, though he may have enjoyed a coach in four. Don Quixote’s labored descent is one of an aging man familiar with the smell of the saddle.

The gypsies were led by Hansuke Yamamoto who lead the males in a rousing dance. Like the solos danced by Karapetyan and Zahorian, the height and elegance in his jetes seemed the most natural move in the world. I found myself remembering Brandenhoff’s rendition of the role; more massive, potentially menacing. Pauli Magierek has assumed Sherri LeBlanc’s role, more intensely Carmen-like; one wondered exactly how the chief could withstand the emotional onslaught. By the end of the scene it seems he had capitulated.

In the Dryad scene Yuan Yuan Tan was a queenly monarch. Elizabeth Miner confection delight as Cupid; Zaretsky made sense of the vision with his responses and brief partnering of Kitri, transformed into remote white and tiara. Tan’s variation, frequently interpolated into the Corsaire pas de deux, was more chilly vision than idyllic dream. Introduced to the variation by Alla Sizova, I’m spoiled; the music melts, scarcely the Tan style.

Val Caniparoli was the ebullient inn keeper, sympathetic to the lovers, welcoming to Lorenzo;Caniparoli and Wheater made eloquent use of eyes wide open, for whatever emotion was necessary. Mercedes and Espada danced again, here Espada’s wandering step less pronounced. The fake suicide scene gave Zaretsky some wonderful moments to banish Gamache, his long arms sweeping to inform the matadors to dispatch the luckless fop.

The wedding pas de deux was further seamless collaboration between Kitri and Basilio, danced with understated elegance and panache: it befitted the triumphant couple who had managed to outmaneuver dear old Dad.

Wednesday, May 2 and Thursday, May 3 I saw numbers two and three of the Kitri-Basilio castings of San Francisco Ballet: Molly Smollen and Tiit Helimets in their second performance of Kitri and Basilio; Tina LeBlanc and Gonzalo Garcia, who was dancing his penultimate performance with the San Francisco company before joining Christopher Wheeldon’s new enterprise debuting in Vail, Colorado this summer. It probably also is LeBlanc's next to final as Kitri.

The two performances afforded some pleasant surprises, and a few misses in the supporting cast, the positives notably James Sofranko as Sancho Panza, the Gypsy King and Woman, The Queen of the Driads, Cupid and Kitri’s two friends. Of the specific casts more later.

Molly Smollen and Tiit Helimets dance a very polished pair of Spanish lovers. I believed in Smollen’s Kitri; she gained in each act, flounced her multi-layered red skirt a lot and triumphed in the wedding pas de deux. If her fan work was not quite so spectacular as Lorena Feijoo’s, said prop was flourished with aplomb during her traveling fouettes. I don’t know if these revolutions are meant in this ballet to travel or remain in place as they should in Swan Lake, Act III. Tiit Helimets seemed too much the prince to be the penniless, quick witted barber; his suicide scene was delivered with appropriate melodrama and timing. It is understood they play off each other supremely well; the mutual support is freely acknowledged. I wonder what the impression might be if Helimets had darkened his hair; his torso, eloquent in princely roles, did not easily yield to the desired degree of flexibility.

Elana Altman, tall with model-touched assurance, danced Mercedes. I wonder whether she built her own narrative about this courtesan for she emphasized the postures more than either character or the precision required with the first act maneuver with the toreador’s knives; she knocked over the hazardous blades, paying more attention to a center front gaze than gauging the maneuvering space. Moises Martin, appearing in all three casts, gained progressively in his assurance as Espada.

Over the three performances the toreador personnel shifted: Garrett Anderson, Rory Hohenstein and Gary Scribner were constants. Jaime Garcia Castilla, Chidozie Nzerem and Hansuke Yamamoto danced twice; David Arce and Jonathan Mangosing once. Flashing their capes and executing tendus as Mercedes danced provided Act I with a special touch of precision.

Pascal Molat added earth and fire as the Gypsy Leader,Erin McNulty dancing a strong,appealing Gypsy Woman. Note here the costuming typified the Romany, eastern gypsy, not Grenada cave inhabitants.

Casting paid some attention to size when choosing Frances Chung as Queen of the Driads and Nicole Grand in Act II’s Scene II; they matched Smollen in size. Chung danced musically, Grand with winsome competence and evident pleasure. Both Driad scene and finale with its eight bridesmaids reminded me in the era of basques and whalebone stays a battery of knees to ankle and slippered footed women doubtedless were a delight to St. Petersburg’s roues.

May 3 Gonzalo Garcia’s penultimate performance with San Francisco Ballet aroused a volley of bravos over what I consider a slightly clouded performance which gained in authority and brilliance towards the end along with puckish mischief in the suicide scene. Tina LeBlanc was in excellent form if she eschewed extra effects with her fan during her variation in the final pas de deux. She simply danced Kitri’s fun, mischief and perplexity musically without fuss . One can easily see why Garcia and LeBlanc will miss their mutual collaboration.

Once again Muriel Maffre danced Mercedes, her arching back, precision pointes around the blades in Act I a wonder to enjoy. Martin's Espada responded to her gallantly.

The Gypsy leader this time was Garrett Anderson, the woman Danielle Santos; Anderson danced a Gypsy portrait of a kindly disposed American outlaw, Santos an intensity worthy of her Hispanic name.

Sarah Van Patten appeared as the Queen of the Driads: a dash of authority, a touch of pleasure and a musical rendering of her variation. Patricia Perez, coming from Ballet San Jose to the San Francisco corps de ballet last year, danced a precise,charming Cupid, her beats twinkling with brio.

Once more, Kiril Zaretskiy strode the boards as Don Quixote, his gestures punctuating the action, framing the progression, while Sofranko’s Sancho Panza looks more wistful and Harpo Marx like. Ashley Wheater devoured his assignment as Lorenzo; Anita Paciotti responded with her usual charm as Kitri’s mother and Val Caniparoli’s tavern keeper cheerfully plied the cast with drink.