NUREJEW • DEUTSCHE OPER
★★★★★☆
Photo: Carlos Quezada
REVIEW: NUREYEV BERLIN: A DAZZELING TOP OF THE LEAGUE BALLET THEATRE
The acclaimed Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov is known for his daring, often politically charged opera productions, but his talent readily crosses genres. Right now, you can experience his fabulous staging of NUREYEV in Berlin. A biographical Gesamtkunstwerk that combines ballet, opera, and drama into a stunningly executed, entertaining, and spectacular portrait of ballet’s first—and perhaps greatest—superstar.
Rudolf Nureyev was not only a divinely gifted dancer; he was also the first true ballet star in the modern sense. After his dramatic defection from the Soviet Union in 1961, he became a global phenomenon—free to dance wherever he wanted, for whomever he wanted, and for exorbitant fees he set himself.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
He avoided fixed contracts and instead sold his presence as a rarity: guest performances, revivals, choreography, and later management—all at the highest international level. At the peak of his career, he was among the world’s highest-paid performing artists, regardless of genre.
He channeled his earnings into an almost manic collecting frenzy that rivaled Elton John’s in extravagance. Nureyev owned homes in New York, Paris, London, Monte Carlo—and even an island off the Amalfi Coast. The properties were filled with 18th-century furniture, exclusive Oriental textiles, Renaissance paintings, musical instruments, and costumes; perhaps as a form of anchorage in a wild jet-set life.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
When Nureyev died in 1993, the entire collection was sold at spectacular auctions at Christie’s in New York and London, fetching tens of millions of dollars—far exceeding the appraisals. Serebrennikov, together with choreographer Yuri Possokhov, has staged this completely overwhelming production with the auctions as its framework, where a life is viewed in reverse through possessions that go under the hammer in a series of grandly conceived and flawlessly executed scenes. Each object, of course, turns out to be laden with stories that slowly unfold aspects of the dancer’s life in a series of dazzlingly beautiful staged and choreographed images.
His upbringing in the Soviet Union, the extreme discipline, and his early stardom culminate in the iconic moment in Paris in 1961, when Nureyev is on tour with the Mariinsky Ballet and realizes that the KGB plans to clip his wings due to his rebellious nature and a few too many close friendships with Westerners.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
After defecting to the West, Nureyev becomes a supreme Cold War PR scoop and quickly an icon. Fame, work, and desire merge into a life without breaks.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
His openly gay life is a central theme and culminates in the much-hyped photoshoot with Robert Mapplethorpe in New York. The photographer consistently calls him “Rudy,” tosses him around in the studio, and creates a famous photo series where the nude images of the highly trained and strikingly well-endowed dancer set the imagination into overdrive for both men and women. A wonderful scene—spicy, cheeky, and humorously executed—triggers wild applause from a packed house at the Deutsche Oper.
Before Nureyev, the male dancer was often reduced to a supporting role: a strong partner tasked with lifting and showcasing the female ballerina. Nureyev, with his explosive technique, charismatic stage presence, and dramatic expression, made the male dancer a star in his own right. He set a new standard for technical virtuosity and artistic depth for men in ballet.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
His partnership with the British ballerina Margot Fonteyn is legendary and sparked a veritable ballet fever in 1960s London.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
Although he led a wild life, his work ethic was razor-sharp. He served as director of the Paris Opera Ballet from 1983 to 1989, during which time he revitalized the company and promoted a new generation of star dancers. He continued to dance, choreograph, and later direct, even after his body began to fail.
He was diagnosed with HIV in 1984 but kept his illness secret from the public for many years. Despite his failing health, he continued to work. His last public performance took place in October 1992, when he received a standing ovation at the premiere of his production of La Bayadère at the Paris Opera. Rudolf Nureyev died on January 6, 1993, in Paris, at the age of 54.
NUREYEV is a dazzling mixed-genre production that appeals to a wide audience and is recommended with five big stars by Det Sku’ Du Se. A great theatrical experience—and in itself well worth a trip to Berlin.
