DATE: Tuesday, September 30, 1997           TAG: 9709300035

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Dance Review 

SOURCE: BY SUE VanHECKE, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   51 lines

STREAMLINED ``FIREBIRD'' TAKES FLIGHT FOR THE VBT

THERE SHOULD'VE been a standing O for VBT on Saturday evening.

With fabulous sets, gorgeous costumes, fresh choreography and a streamlined plot, Virginia Ballet Theatre presented a stunning world premiere of an all-new production of Stravinsky's ``Firebird,'' accompanied by the Virginia Symphony.

Artistic director Frank Bove's stylish interpretation of the classic tale of a couple rescued from an evil prince by a mysterious half-woman, half-bird trims away much of the extraneous plot twists that have accumulated since ``Firebird's'' Paris debut early this century.

Bove has added his own narrative device, a pair of Shadows - danced nimbly by Camilo Andre Rodriguez and Gregory K. Stuart - who aid in the introductions and exits of the various characters. Lurking in the background or partnering the Firebird, the evil Kostchei or each other, they were a foreboding presence.

Elegant Elyse W. Tapper, clad in a smashing flame-red unitard, was an evocative Firebird, able to capture even the avian head movements of a wise, wary creature. Carl P. Adams was rock-solid as the good Prince Ivan, Meghan Cupp a lissome Princess of Immortal Beauty.

As the dastardly Kostchei, Todd Rosenlieb was deliciously devilish. He and Adams especially shone during an intricate scene that had the two simultaneously fighting and attempting to wrest Cupp from each other.

The corps was divided into a group of maidens and a gang of Kostschei's hairy minions. The maidens, in flowing gossamer, were delicate, serenely enveloping and entwining Ivan and his lady love. Kotschei's thugs, in pointed contrast, moved with appropriate primitivism.

The spectacularly colorful sets by California designer Daniel C. Nyiri were in a Tiffany glass motif, giving the illusion of the action taking place within a glittering jewelry box.

The evening commenced on a more classical note, with the grand pas de dix from ``Raymonda,'' with music by Glazounov. Despite some problems with balance and synchronization, the 10 dancers, particularly the women in the variations, achieved the buoyancy of the crisp choreography, set after Petipa.

Next came the pas de deux from ``Agon,'' with its dissonant Stravinsky score and stark, serpentine choreography by Balanchine. Lorraine Graves displayed impressive control as her limbs unfolded into beautiful, angular attitudes on point and off. Her able partner, Donald Williams, on loan from the Dance Theatre of Harlem, moved with a taut, coiled intensity.

``Consort Pieces,'' another abstract dance, followed, to the lush music of Adolphus Hailstork. Bove's dramatic choreography emphasized unique lifts and layered planes of dancers, their undulating limbs creating a kaleidoscopic effect.

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