Swan Lake review, Royal Opera House: The Swan Queen and Prince trade bright chemistry as well as dazzling turns

The Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake makes a confident return to the stage despite the disruptions of Covid-19. On opening night, Yasmine Naghdi steps in for a recovering Marianela Nuñez, giving a sensitive performance as the Swan Queen.

Created in 2018, this Swan Lake is a major undertaking, with sumptuous designs by John Macfarlane and production by Liam Scarlett. It’s a staging designed to last for decades – which tends to mean revisions over time. That’s harder for this first revival, shadowed by Scarlett’s tragic death last year. This revival is essentially the same, though there’s a little less weight on the wicked magician Rothbart, and on Prince Siegfried’s friend Benno.

The production’s greatest strength is its second act, with a traditional text and Macfarlane’s painterly, moonlit lake. The swans sweep in: there’s scale and power to the dancing of the corps de ballet, set off by sharp footwork. It’s a fine frame for Naghdi and Vadim Muntagirov as her prince.

Naghdi brings a rippling flow of movement to Odette, the Swan Queen, both soft and strong. The carriage of her head is beautifully sorrowful, but there’s a vital intensity to the way she reaches for freedom, or nestles into Muntagirov’s arms. As Odile, the heroine’s wicked double, she adds a sharp edge to her dancing – but still keeps that expansiveness, a hint of Odette that makes the deception more plausible.

Muntagirov is the princeliest of princes. His partnering is both tender and effortless: he lifts Naghdi as if she were infinitely precious. In the virtuoso numbers, he spins out long lines of bravura steps: jumps and spins unfurl, as natural as breath. In the Black Swan duet, he and Naghdi trade bright chemistry as well as dazzling turns.

There’s some swagger from the supporting cast, too, with a dashing czárdas in the national dances. The first act pas de trois is brightly danced by James Hay, Meaghan Grace Hinkis and Isabella Gasparini.

Scarlett’s fourth act is muddled, in text and in storytelling. Different endings are common for Swan Lake – are the lovers united in death, or do they get a happy ending? This time, Odette dies, but the Prince is left alive, against the grain of Tchaikovsky’s score. Naghdi and Muntagirov are touchingly vulnerable, but it makes an untidy finale.

Swan Lake is on at the Royal Opera House until 28 May