AMP Reviews AMP Swan Lake Reviews

The original cast is unchanged. True, Andrew Walkinshaw is getting on a bit, but he's still good as the young Prince, even if the height difference between him and Scott Ambler is no longer so noticeable, while the core trio of Cooper, Ambler and Fiona Chadwick were back in the roles they created. There are a few changes - the Corgi has been upgraded so that its legs move, but the reference may have escaped the American audience (my test subject, who has lived in the UK, looked blank when I mentioned the Corgi) but it still gets a laugh.

Chadwick, Cooper and Ambler were all on excellent form. Chadwick lost no time in reminding us that the Queen's is very much a dance role in this version. Her character seemed softer in places, less emotionally stern than just emotionally clueless about her son, while Ambler's Prince seemed outwardly more confident, chatting up Emily Piercy with relative ease. His disintegration seemed all the harder as the Prince seemed to have reached an accommodation with a role he was unsuited for.

The faux ballet had an extra touch - whether intentionally or not, the leading lady lost her wings and concluded her performance with a brief "homage" to La Sylphide. As in many other scenes in Swan Lake, there was so much happening that one misses chunks of asides in the effort to follow the main plot. In places this seemed to be getting out of hand - at times there seemed to be a tendency to play it more for laughs, usually at the expense of sexual tension. This was most noticeable in Act III, where the Spanish Dance lost much of its intensity in favour of humour. But mostly the production was unchanged from its West End run.

The costumes have had a makeover, mainly adding more glitz - this is most noticeable in Act III, where the ballgowns are more glamorous. Walkinshaw's truant schoolboy is missed in the bar scene (he's now a juvenile delinquent), but I suppose he's too tall to hack it in shorts anymore, while the portrait of the Queen is now a series of Warholesque screen prints.

The fundamentals remain the same. The swans are as haunting, beautiful and dangerous as ever. They are still a cohesive tribe although it's relatively easy to differentiate between the British and American dancers. In particular, the big swans had taken the word "big" to heart, with giant swoops and leaps that perfectly described the music. Cooper's return to classical ballet seems to have helped his style. The orchestra seemed to be playing a touch faster than usual, which pushed the pace of the performance - a shame in some places, but at no point did the dancers seem to be chasing the music.

Act III hits an audience - even though I suspect most of them had seen it before, as the film has been shown on TV in the US - although I was surprised to hear laughter at Adam Cooper's entrance. Mind you, in London, I was too busy trying to retrieve my jaw from where it had dropped to my knees to notice audience reaction. Okay, let's face it, I was in ecstasy for most of this act - Ruthlyn Salomans, an American addition to the cast deserves a mention as one of the princesses - so if you want objectivity, you'll have to find someone else.

By the time the swans returned, I was totally immersed in the story, and was surprised to hear a few laughs at the first three to appear from under the bed. Generally the New York audience seemed inclined to regard the show as more humorous than London audiences, but laughs became more tentative as the show progressed. In particular, the final act was moving and shattering and had the greatest impact (as far as I could gauge from the talk around me) on the audience.

Ambler, Cooper and Chadwick were on astonishing form. Although alternate casts of Swan Lake that I have seen are excellent - and the Kemp/Wright pairing is wonderful - the original cast is still the best. Interpretations of characters have developed - Cooper, in particular, seems to have been influenced by his brother's performance, and Act III has much more of a violent undertone than previously, but all three are comfortable in the roles and comfortable with each other. In fact, I spent much of Act II watching the Cooper/Ambler partnership rather than the actual performances, while Chadwick's wonderful line proved that, while she may have hung up her pointe shoes, she's far from stopping dancing yet.

But, after three years and umpteen performances (and viewings) does Swan Lake still have its emotional kick? Well, it kicks in different places if you've seen it before. But it still kicks - I had tears in my eyes for most of the last act, and felt the anger that it was all desperately unfair, that all good productions of Swan Lake, whether classical or modern, provoke in me. And when a preview audience gives a show a standing ovation for a show that hasn't even formally opened yet, you know someone is getting it right. This may well be the last time this cast perform - for AMP fans, a trip to New York could be the ideal pre-Christmas present.