History should always look as good as it does in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling, a beautifully grim take on a scandalous chapter from 19th-century Hapsburg history now playing on the Houston Ballet stage. The scandalous chapter refers to the 1889 murder-suicide committed by Rudolf, the Crown Prince of Austria. His...
Houston Ballet Principals Karina González as Baroness Mary Vetsera and Connor Walsh as Crown Prince Rudolf in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s, a beautifully grim take on a scandalous chapter from 19th-century Hapsburg history now playing on the Houston Ballet stage.
Interestingly, MacMillan teamed up with writer Gillian Freeman, who he tasked with crafting a scenario for the show. It was an inspired decision that results in a deeply layered and compelling ballet, one that is even more special in its focus on a male character.
Countess Marie Larisch is the most inscrutable character in terms of motive. And Jessica Collado maintains that intrigue while also showing flashes of true concern for the prince, with whom her relationship is marked by familiarity.On the flip side is Mónica Gómez’s Princess Stéphanie, who we witness being dominated, scandalized and humiliated at the hands of Rudolf.
The ballet’s score, a cleverly patchworked collection of Franz Liszt works arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchbery, is deftly performed by the Houston Ballet Orchestra under Ermanno Florio. The orchestra travels the soundscape, from gloomy, ominous strings and rhythmic pulses to boisterous jaunts and climatic swells. Also, worth noting, a second-act aria sung by mezzo-soprano Ani Kushyan, accompanied by Richard Bado, is an unexpected musical treat.
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