One of the happiest ballets in the classical repertory, Coppelia, comes to Staller Center on Sunday, March 21, at 7:00 pm, performed by the Moscow Festival Ballet.
This sunny 19th-century comic classic is about a toymaker who creates wonderfully lifelike dolls. Encompassed in three lively acts are lighthearted renderings of love, loss, and mistaken identity as a beautiful life-like toy doll is mistaken for a girl a toymaker passes off as his daughter.
Revenge and reconciliation follow, and to wrap it all up, the story ends with a wedding and the promise of happily ever after. Coppelia, with choreography by Arthur Saint-Leon and music by Leo Delibes, had its premiere on May 25, 1870, in Paris and was an instant hit. If Giselle is the 19th century’s great tragic ballet, dance historians often cite Coppelia as the century’s standout comedy.
The Moscow Festival Ballet was founded in 1989 when legendary principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet Sergei Radchenko realized his vision of a company that would bring together the highest classical elements of the great Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet companies in an independent new company within the framework of Russian classical ballet. The Moscow Festival Ballet has toured extensively throughout the United States since 1997 and returns for a 17-week tour.
Tickets are $42. Call 632-ARTS or go to www.stallercenter.com to order.
Coming up at Staller
The Metropolitan Opera (Met Opera Live in HD) comes to Staller Center on screen in the Main Stage Theatre, broadcast live from the Met during the opera season. The opera Hamlet will be seen on Sunday, March 28, with Armida scheduled for Saturday, May 1.
The Stony Brook Film Festival, featuring 10 days of outstanding independent films in competition, will take place July 22 through July 31.
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