The Overcoat. - State Theatre, Cleveland, Ohio - dance reviews

Dance Magazine, Feb, 1994 by Wilma Salisbury

Cleveland Ballet opened its 1993 - 94 season with two dance dramas that aimed for a synthesis of story, movement, music, costumes, and scenery. The Overcoat, by Flemming Flindt, succeeded brilliantly and gave artistic director Dennis Nahat the opportunity to perform a principal role perfectly suited to his talents as a mature dancer, actor, and mime. Donald McKayle's Mysteries and Raptures, a premiere, was thwarted by limiting music.

The Overcoat was made for the late Rudolf Nureyev. But when he danced it with the company in 1990, he was too weakened by illness to do the ballet justice. Nahat showed the choreographic concept clearly and made the role his own.

Based on a short story by Nikolai Gogol, the ballet centers on a hapless civil servant who dreams of a better life. A new overcoat symbolizes his hopes. When he is robbed of his cherished possession he goes mad and dies. But he gets revenge in the afterlife.

Flindt's choreography skillfully weaves together bits of classical ballet, slapstick comedy, Russian folk dance, and silent-movie techniques. The central character is a composite of the Sad Sack, Charlie Chaplin, and Petrouchka.

Sumptuous costumes and elegant drops by Beni Montresor coupled with atmospheric lighting by Christina Giannelli set the ballet in old St. Petersburg. A pastiche of vivid symphonic music drawn from Dmitri Shostakovich's early film and theater scores creates a nostalgic mood and supports the comic action.

Nahat, who had not performed a principal role for six years, whipped himself into shape and danced the demanding part with emotional commitment, dramatic flair, comic timing, and technical strength. The full company of twenty-two dancers and eleven apprentices formed a cohesive ensemble of peasants and workers or guests at a ball.