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A Treasure Rediscovered Milano
Teatro alla Scala
06/11/2025 - & June 12, 14*, 17, 19, 20, 25, 26, 2025
Paquita
Pierre Lacotte (adaptation & choreography after Joseph Mazilier & Marius Petipa), Edmé-Marie-Ernest Deldevez/Ludwig Minkus (score, adaptation & orchestration David Coleman)
Nicoletta Manni*/Martina Arduino/Alice Mariani (Paquita), Timofey Andrijashenko/Nicola del Freo*/Navrin Turnbull (Lucien d’Hervilly), Christian Fagetti/Marco Agostino/Claudio Coviello* (Inigo), Maria Celeste Losa/Caterina Bianchi/Camilla Cerulli/Alice Mariani/Virna Toppi/Agnese di Clemente/Gaia Andreanò/Linda Giubelli/Mattia Semperboni*/Alessandro Paoloni/Darius Gramada/Edward Cooper (Pas de trois), Alessandra Vassallo/Vittoria Valerio*/Virna Toppi (Dona Serafina), Massimo Garon (Don Lopez de Mendoza), Gabriele Corrado*/Eduardo Caporaletti (Le Comte d’Hervilly), Chiara Borgia/ Francesca Podini* (La Comtesse), Gaia Andreanò, Linda Giubelli, Marta Gerani, Letizia Masini, Maria Celeste Losa, Martina Valentini (Grand pas), Corpo di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala
Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Paul Connelly (conductor)
Luisa Spinatelli (sets & costumes), Andrea Giretti (lighting)
(© Bresica e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)
For the first time, the Milanese public have experienced the complete version of the rarely-performed ballet Paquita, employing Pierre Lacotte’s splendid and recherché choreography. In 2001, the recently deceased Lacotte (1932‑2023) was commissioned by the Paris Opera to reconstruct this epic Romantic ballet. It’s this epic choreography which La Scala has chosen in presenting Paquita.
Despite its infrequent appearance internationally, Paquita is known, at least by name, by many ballet aficionados. Premiered in Paris in 1846, it originally featured two iconic dancers, Carlotta Grisi (1819‑1899) and Lucien Petipa (1815‑1898), elder brother of Marius Petipa, the famous maître de ballet at the Russian Imperial Ballet. In 1847, it was reprised in Saint Petersburg and featured Marius Petipa in the lead role of Lucien d’Hervilly. In 1881, it was again presented in Saint Petersburg to a choreography by Marius Petipa with several new additions that marked ballet history. While the original score was by French composer Edmé-Marie-Ernest Deldevez (1817‑1897), the 1881 additions were by the Saint Petersburg‑based, Viennese composer Ludwig Minkus (1826‑1917), responsible for the scores Don Quixote (1869) and La Bayadère (1877). These additions included the Grand pas classique, which is an enduringly prominent feature of the Romantic ballet repertoire.
The meagre plot involves a Gypsy girl who falls in love with French officer Lucien d’Hervilly during Napoleon’s invasion of Spain. Paquita overhears the Spanish governor plotting with the Gypsy leader Inigo to assassinate d’Hervilly. Using her wits, Paquita saves the officer, who proposes to marry her when they escape to a nearby castle. She refuses, given her humble origins, but she notices a portrait in the castle. It is identical to a portrait that she’s kept in a locket since childhood. Paquita becomes aware she’s a nobleman’s daughter, abducted as an infant. Now that she is of noble blood, a European and not a Gypsy, Paquita can marry d’Hervilly. An utterly implausible plot with an Orientalist plot, where Gypsies are child abductors and hired assassins, the subjugated Spaniards cowardly intriguers, and a French officer, albeit occupying a country, is the hero.
Lacotte’s revival includes Deldevez’s original music plus the additions by Minkus. His choreography managed to breathe life into a ballet with a dated story and offensive, politically-incorrect stereotypes. This was achieved by tightening the action and reinforcing the plot’s dramatic aspect. This could only be achieved by having two lead dancers with captivating charisma and masterful technique.
Première danseuse Nicoletta Manni, previously admired in La Scala’s productions of Coppélia and La Bayadère, is both technically accomplished and, just as importantly, expressive. Delicacy comes naturally to this great dancer. As she’d done in La Bayadère, she masterfully used her arm movements to emulate Gypsy danse moves. She mastered a technique that abounds in this ballet: épaulement, a positioning of the shoulders that gives a three dimensional quality to the dancer’s positions. She managed to convey both Paquita’s delicacy and strong character. It was clear from her first appearance on stage that despite her Giselle‑like grace and fragility, her Paquita is no victim. She especially shone in the famous Paquita Variations. In Act II, once her noble origin is confirmed, the naturally graceful Gypsy girl transformed into a dazzling aristocrat.
Likewise, the dashing Nicola del Freo, taking the lead male role of French officer d’Hervilly, impressed with his dazzling technical bravura. In his solo dance in Act II, he elicited more applause than the prima ballerina, no minor feat in a ballet centred on Paquita. Del Frio and Manni had an obviously powerful chemistry; the two positively astounded in the intense Act II Pas de deux.
Claudio Coviello, who interpreted the role of Inigo, was a dashing Gypsy chief. His style contrasted with del Freo’s, being more spontaneous, less stylized and appropriately virile. His moves evoked those of a villain in La Bayadère, set in India, or in Le Corsaire, set in the Ottoman Empire. Despite his villainous nature, Coviello exuded masculinity and a certain charm; he greatly appealed to the public.
Milan was also greatly impressed with the Act II Mazurka, possibly as it featured the young dancers in the corps de ballet. As charming as it was, this obvious Russian addition made little sense in Spain during the Napoleonic Wars.
Luisa Spinatelli’s sets helped enhance the somewhat weak plot. Act I was set in a Gypsy encampment at the bottom of a rocky gorge, eerily evocative of the surroundings of the Andalusian town of Ronda, a beautiful city that stands atop a rocky pillar, surrounded by a deep creek and gorgeous rock formation, possibly Europe’s most beautiful and dramatic location of great natural beauty.
In the first act’s second scene, set in the home of the Gypsy chief Inigo, a window opens onto the dramatic gorge and the impressive bridge connecting the pillar on which Ronda stands to the mainland. Though Ronda is not indicated in the plot, using a real place to draw inspiration made for credibly impressive sets.
Act II’s sets were an exercise in sobriety. Most designers would have opted for posh interiors for a ball hosted by nobles in a castle. But Spinatelli opted instead for simple, uncluttered dark blue sets emphasizing the castle columns. A spot of red provided stark contrast in the form of velvet curtains, resembling those of La Scala, over an evocative staircase. In opting for limited colour, the colourful costumes of the guests, and in consequence their dance moves, were the centre of attention.
Lacotte’s passing two years ago was a great loss to the world of classical ballet. A true magician, able to breathe new life into an old‑fashioned dusty ballet, he is greatly missed. One is grateful for La Scala’s homage to this great choreographer, and one hopes this revival won’t be the last.
Ossama el Naggar
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