© Jimmy Chan Hong Kong 'Coppelia' reviews 'Coppelia' reviews Tomimura in reviews Leung in reviews recent Hong Kong reviews more Natasha Rogai reviews Discuss this review (Open for at least 6 months) A version of this review appeared previously in the South China Morning Post.

Unluckily for HKB the five performances scheduled were reduced to four, the first night on Friday being cancelled when Typhoon Nuri closed down the city for 24 hours.

Saturday night was blessed with three truly star performances. Kyoko Tomimura is a natural soubrette and makes an ideal Swanhilda – mischievous and feisty but warm-hearted. Her expressive acting was matched by dancing of precision, speed and lightness. The Act 2 Scottish variation and final solo in Act 3 were outstanding. The faithless Franz can be one of ballet’s least appealing heroes, but Nobuo Fujino makes him the loveable bad boy you can’t help falling for - full of charm and so sexy you can see why Swanhilda takes him back. Carlo Pacis is one of those performers who can dominate the stage through sheer force of personality and knows how to act with his whole body. His Coppelius was vividly detailed and hysterically funny, with the right touch of pathos when the old inventor’s dream is shattered.

On Sunday afternoon the cast from the cancelled first night provided a contrast in characterization. Faye Leung is a grand, lyrical ballerina – she was sumptuous in the Spanish variation, but overall the choreography for Swanhilda is not the best showcase for her gifts. She handled the comedy well, but in Act 1 her pain at Franz’s betrayal seemed almost too real for this lighthearted work. Brett Simon’s Franz was less the village seducer tthan the thoughtless young bloke who never meant to hurt his fiancee’s feelings. This was a very funny and well thought-out performance – it was good to see both he and Fujino coming up with their own individual bits of comic business. Conrad Dy-Liacco was a gently comic Coppelius and conveyed beautifully the depth of his obsession, his ecstasy when he believes his beloved Coppelia is alive and his sorrow when he realises she is not.

   

Faye Leung and Conrad Dy-Liacco in Coppelia
© Jimmy Chan

One gripe : both performances had the same supporting cast, who were well-matched with Tomimura and Fujino but looked all wrong with the much taller Leung and Simon. The “tall” supporting cast did the other two shows - I understand the need to share performance opportunities, but in a production of this standard this jarred – in itself a measure of how far the company has come.

In the orchestra pit, Yip Wing Sie and the HK Sinfonietta accomplished the difficult feat of doing justice to the music while being sensitive to the dancers’ needs. One of the most valuable results of increased resources for HKB has been a greater number of performances with live accompaniment. Yip and the Sinfonietta have built a strong working relationship with HKB and Yip has greatly developed her skills in the tricky art of ballet conducting, something many other fine concert hall conductors are unable (or unwilling) to do.

A version of this review appeared previously in the South China Morning Post.