Royal Ballet Triple Bill, Royal Opera House, London
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Your support makes all the difference.From its first performance in 1984, Kenneth MacMillan's Different Drummer has been a controversial work. Watching this revival, it's hard to see why it survived. His retelling of the Woyzeck story is both grim and dim.
Adapting Georg Büchner's play about a poor soldier who murders his lover, MacMillan chose a distorted, expressionist style. Soldiers stand with legs astride so that the creepy Doctor can sidle between them. The bullying Captain strides about. Most of the characters are tepid grotesques, lacking both humanity and the energy of caricature.
The doomed Marie appears, clutching her baby – oh, look! Mother and whore archetypes! Marie's duet with the pompous Drum Major reworks material from MacMillan's own Mayerling, but without its psychological insight. Nor does the choreography make much of its music, a mix of Webern and Schoenberg.
Edward Watson and Leanne Benjamin do everything they can with the unrewarding lead roles. Obliged to writhe and suffer before murdering Marie and drowning himself, Watson is admirably direct. Benjamin phrases her generic steps with real juice. Supporting roles are well-danced.
Different Drummer looks even drearier for following Wayne McGregor's bright, shiny Chroma. This 2006 hit led to his appointment as resident choreographer of the Royal Ballet. He moves his dancers boldly through John Pawson's airy white set, with bursts of energy and a sure use of stage space. Joby Talbot's music rings out triumphantly. A mix of original material and songs by the White Stripes, it's gleefully full of gamelan clunks and blaring James Bond trumpets.
The performance has lost a little of its zing, but this is still an exuberant work. Stepping into a leading role, Mara Galeazzi makes a weak replacement for Alina Cojocaru. Sarah Lamb stands out, ethereal and steely in the same phrase.
This is a strong programme musically, the first to be conducted by Barry Wordsworth since his appointment as music director. In the final piece, Rite of Spring, the onstage action fails to match the power of Stravinsky's astounding score. MacMillan's staging is full of jazz hands and flexed feet. In this limp performance, it looks feeble. The large corps de ballet should have more collective force. Instead, they flop and shuffle. As the Chosen Maiden, Tamara Rojo needs more drive. All the vigour was coming from the orchestra.
To 23 February (020-7304 4000)
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