‘Giselle’ Excels

As it prepares to celebrate it 30th anniversary, State Street Ballet staged one of its biggest productions ever at the Granada with its premiere of the hauntingly beautiful two act production, Giselle.

New artistic director Megan Philipp, who has taken over from retiring founder Rodney Gustafson, excelled – helming the two-hour show with Ryan Lenkey in his first principal role as the besotted philandering Count Albrecht and Nerea Barrondo, who studied with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, as the doomed young peasant girl who catches his eye.

Both principals were excellent in their roles as was Noam Tsivkin as Hilarion, the village huntsman, who discovers Albrecht’s noble background.

Accompanying the production playing Adolphe Adam’s music was the full Santa Barbara Symphony in the orchestra pit under veteran maestro Nir Kabaretti.

I last saw Giselle at New York’s Lincoln Center in 1977, an American Ballet Theatre’s production with Russian legends Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova as the principals, which Gustafson reminded me at the post-reception in the McCune Founders Room he’d actually danced in when starting his career.

Filled with ethereal tales, its plot line of passion, betrayal, and forgiveness made for an enchanting show and perfect entertainment with Halloween looming.