By Kathi E.B. Ellis for WFPL
Robert Curran’s revisioning of “Swan Lake” opened at the Brown Theatre on Friday, and the production largely succeeded in executing a careful balance among artistic progress, the use of new technologies and tradition.
Continuing the Louisville Ballet’s commitment to working with local visual artists and expanding how audiences consider scenic design, this production features the laser design of Ryan Daly and Garrett Crabtree. Curran has also reframed the traditional approach to Odette/Odile and Siegfried.
Daly and Crabtree’s design is visually stunning and explodes beyond the proscenium, enveloping audiences in brilliant, rich hues. It is at its most aesthetically compelling in the “white” acts, when the laser projections and smoke intersect to create the illusion of the swans’ lake; this is also carried into Act Three, suggesting the lake is immediately outside the castle.