Pucking Around at The Boston Ballet

The golden velvet curtain slowly rises at the Wang Center. A magnificent forest filled with frolicking fairies and flutterig butterflies appears behind it. Suddenly Puck, an elfin creature scantily clad with leaves, leaps into view. He chuckles and grins as he dashes and twirls about the stage. The audience gasps with delight at the magical picture, captivated by the fairy-tale scene unfurling through pirouettes and arabesques before their very eyes. But this is not your everyday, run-of-the-mill Brothers Grimm tale winning the hearts of people all over the city. This week, the Boston Ballet is weaving Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" into the stuff that dreams are made on.

The story line remains basically the same as that of the classic play: four star-crossed lovers run away to a forest inhabited by fairies. Thanks to the Fairy King's mischevious helper Puck, the mortal lovers become even more discombobulated and frantic until the deux-es-machina ending. Meanwhile, the Fairy King squabbles with Queen Titania over custody of their child until Puck's spell causes the queen to temporarily fall in love with Bottom the Ass, a man with the head of a donkey. Once all the confusion subsides, however, a very happy ending ensues.

It would be difficult to select a single strong point in this production--everything simply meshes together too superbly. However, the stage and the costumes are perhaps the most eye-catching features of the ballet. The incredibly elaborate aqua-tinted forest set created the perfect playground for fairies of all ages, from the colorfully-dressed youngsters pattering around the stage to the majestic and dignified Fairy Queen's court marching faithfully behind their queen.

Every character in the production performs a difficult dual role--that of both dancer and actor. Helena (Christina Elida Salerno) in particular does a spectacular job, her face and movements displaying the comical screams and melodramatic gasps that are not permitted to leave her lips as both Lysander (Alexander Srb) and Demetrius (Gino DiMarco) pursue her. Lysander and his true love, Hermia (Marjorie Grundvig), create a lovely image of passionate lovers fleeing from their confining world. The four "Rustics"--Bottom and his crew--deliver perfectly timed comic relief, and the royal couple of Titania (Natasha Akhmarova) and Oberon (Laszlo Berdo) take everyone's breath away with their emotional grace and dignified stage presence.

As a curtain-raiser to "A Mid-summer Night's Dream," the Boston Ballet performs a short dance entitled "Glazounov Classique," an elegant piece with several short solos. Each of the dancers give an excellent performance, but Adriana Suarez in particular stands out. As the lead female of the dance, she is an absolute wonder to behold. Her fluid style contrasts with her sharp, majestic movements to create a spellbinding performance.

Classic ballet is often a beauty to watch. But it is not often that a production wins over both the mature dance appreciation and the childish delight of an audience. Whether one has to brave the snow, the T, or the ticket price, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is definitely a performance worth the effort. Chances are that, from ballet connoisseurs to the completely dance-ignorant, everyone seated in the Wang Center as that golden curtain rises once again will not be even slightly disappointed.