The Bright Stream
Bolshoi Ballet
Palais Garnier
Paris, France
January 2004
By Alexander Meinertz
Copyright © 2003 Alexander Meinertz
The new director of the Bolshoi Ballet, Alexei Ratmansky, has performed the unlikely feat of bringing successfully back to life a Shostakovich ballet banned by Stalin and denigrated by no less a figure than Agrippina Vaganova. The Bright Stream was given its European premiere in Paris last week in connection with the ensemble's season at the Palais Garnier.