The Bolshoi Ballet’s THE PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER

Choreography by Pierre Lacotte, after Petipa | Music by Cesare Pugni
Ballet in Three Acts | Running time 175 minutes including two intermissions

Libretto by Jean-Henry Saint-Georges and Maurice Petipa after the novel Le roman de la momie by Theophile Gautier, version by Pierre Lacotte
Music : Cesare Pugni
Author of the score’s version: Alexander Sotnikov
Choreographer: Pierre Lacotte (after the ballet of the same name by Marius Petipa)
Designer: Pierre Lacotte
Music Director: TBA

With the Orchestra of the Bolshoi State Theatre of Russia
With the Bolshoi soloists and the Bolshoi Corps de Ballet

A young English Lord traveling through Egypt takes shelter in a pyramid with local characters. After a round of opium, the new friends begin to have fantastic dreams about the Pharaoh’s daughter rising from her tomb and enchanting them. The Pharaoh’s Daughter, originally a hit when first staged in 1862, fell out of favor with the Soviet regime. In 2000, Pierre Lacotte was commissioned to resurrect Petipa’s mighty Egyptian fresco, and it became a hit yet again. From the Bolshoi Ballet.

PROGRAM NOTE

Born in 1932 in France, Pierre Lacotte is known for his multiple talents as a dancer, choreographer and ballet master. He began studying ballet at the School of the Paris Opera in 1942, became part of the corps de ballet in 1946 and principal dancer in 1953. After suffering from a leg injury in 1956, he began studying the choreography of the lost ballets of the Romantic period. He was appointed ballet master of the Paris Opera in 1971 and recreated Coppélia in 1973 and Paquita in 2001. These two productions helped him achieve great success and encouraged him to carry on rebuilding other choreographies. He reached worldwide success in 2000 with The Pharaoh’s Daughter featuring the great ballerina Svetlana Zakharova. Still very active, Pierre Lacotte is currently recreating La Fille du Danube.

First choreographed by Marius Petipa, The Pharaoh’s Daughter premiered in 1862 in a grandiose show -the likes of which had never seen before- at Petersburg’s Bolshoi Theatre. Immensely popular with the public, The Pharaoh’s Daughter was given several revivals. In 1864, the ballet was transferred from Petersburg to Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. But in Soviet times it was considered to be ideologically immature and, dropped from the repertoire, it was virtually forgotten. In 2000, Pierre Lacotte was exclusively commissioned by the Bolshoi Theatre to resurrect Petipa’s mighty Egyptian fresco and he successfully succeeded in giving a new life to this forgotten masterpiece.

SYNOPSIS

Young Englishman Lord Wilson is traveling through Egypt with his servant, John Bull. At the foot of a pyramid, they meet a caravan of Arab merchants who kindly invite them into their tent. Suddenly, a powerful storm breaks out. Travelers and merchants are forced to take shelter in the nearest pyramid. The caretaker requests his uninvited guests to watch the noise they make as Aspicia, the daughter of one of Egypt’s most powerful Pharaohs, lies in a tomb nearby. Settling down in a corner, the merchants light up their opium pipes. Lord Wilson also asks for a chibouk… He falls asleep and begins to have fantastic dreams. The Pharaoh’s daughter, Aspicia, becomes alive and lays her hand over his heart. Lord Wilson is instantly transported into the past where he becomes Ta-Hor, an ancient Egyptian. Ta-Hor and Aspicia fall in love, but she is betrothed to a Nubian king…