World-famous Bolshoi Ballet to stop at Aladdin

Lisa Ferguson

Monday, Oct. 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Hang on to your tutu -- the Bolshoi is coming to Las Vegas.

And it's staying for a while.

The arrival of the Bolshoi Ballet Tour '96 for two weeks marks the first time in five years that the complete company -- 245 people in all, including 124 dancers and an 82-piece orchestra -- has performed in the United States.

The two-city tour will start with a dozen shows at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, beginning Tuesday, before heading to Los Angeles.

What's more, the company will perform not one, not two, but three full-length ballets: "Swan Lake," "Don Quixote" and the American premiere of its rendition of "La Sylphide."

That's a lotta ballet.

Is it perhaps too much for Las Vegas? Depends on who you ask.

For the most part, local dance connoisseurs assure that residents are champing at the ballet bit, saying it's high time Las Vegans had a chance to view classic dancing at its best.

So what if some wouldn't know a pas de deux if it bit 'em?

"There is no such thing as being culturally ready," contends local ballet historian Adele DeAngelo.

"Las Vegas is ready for some interesting material that's not going to bore them to death."

DeAngelo is a former dancer who performed with de Basil's original Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in South America during the late '40s and early '50s. She's since done extensive work in dance history and studied its effects on many cultures, even lecturing on the subject at UNLV and Loyola Marymount University in LA.

The Bolshoi engagement, she says, "will be a very good introduction for people who have never seen ballet.

"They have brought to the ballet world a certain type of feeling. When they do 'Swan Lake,' those swans really swan.

"They will capture the man on the street who will enjoy this type of thing. They're going to see some real ballet that will be beautiful and not technically incorrect."

Ballet critic Hal de Becker calls the Bolshoi "the cream of the crop," and says audiences should expect "very virtuosic, flamboyant dancing," an "enormous spectacle."

"This is probably the most major ballet company that has appeared in Las Vegas.

"I think that we're more than ready for quality ballet, and I think that's shown by the way Ham Hall fills up every time they have a ballet program."

But 12 times?

"I do have reservations about the attendance in terms of numbers," de Becker says. "I hope that a 7,000-seat venue will be well-attended over a period of 12 days. And the tickets are not cheap."

Low-end seats start at $30 and top out at $300 for exclusive "Golden Circle" seats.

Sales are "going pretty good," according to a spokesman in the Aladdin's entertainment office. But so far, only 3,000 tickets have been sold.

That's not exactly music to the ears of Michael McEwen, the Bolshoi's tour director. "It's obviously not where we want to be," he says.

He blames the unimpressive numbers on delayed local advertising and Las Vegans' past disappointments with wannabe Bolshois.

The "renegade" companies that performed at UNLV and Bally's -- dubbed "bogus Bolshoi" by de Becker -- did great damage to the real Bolshoi's image, McEwen says.

"People go to see them and it's not the first-class program that the Bolshoi would be," he says. "There hasn't been a real Bolshoi (performance) in five years."

McEwen's confident that things will turn around for this tour once the performances begin. "It's just a matter of people not knowing that the Bolshoi is coming," he says.

They're also counting on a majority of the sales to trickle in with tourists.

"We figure people come to town to gamble and see shows," McEwen says. "People want to see world-class entertainment, and you're not going to get any finer than this."

Talk about a gamble. Richard Romito, director of UNLV's Performing Arts Center, who's in charge of booking artists there, doesn't think betting on tourist dollars is a wise idea.

"Our primary drive-in tourist market is LA," where eight performances are scheduled, he says. "So would you make a special trip to Las Vegas to see it? Probably not."

Still, he's impressed by the number of tickets already sold. "A sale of 3,000 in this market to the local audience is actually a strong turnout."

The only local ballet production that sells more tickets -- about 10,000 a year -- is Nevada Dance Theatre's "Nutcracker," Romito says.

"I'm so hopeful that (the Bolshoi is) going to have a decent-sized audience." That could help persuade other world-class companies to reserve just as many dates here, he says.

Mostly because, given travel costs, it's more economically feasible for troupes to play week-long engagements rather than two- or three-day stints.

For example, Romito's negotiating to bring the New York City Ballet here in the fall of '98, as part of the company's U.S. tour in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

If, however, the Bolshoi "doesn't do very strongly, I'm going to be very hesitant," he says. "It will certainly discourage other companies from coming for any kind of extended run."

Doesn't scare the Bolshoi, though. McEwen is pretty confident that this week's performances won't be the company's last in Las Vegas.

"We'll have to see how this run does, but ... I think people like a little culture, even if it's only for one night," he says.