The hero, Ivan, catches the Firebird and takes from her a magic feather that will summon her when he is in need. Ratmansky’s production features the same quartet of characters - taken from Russian folklore - as more traditional versions. One of its most marvelous features is Simon Pastukh’s décor: The first exterior scene is a bizarre but poetic dreamscape in which forked objects, like fire-tipped cactuses but changing in contour, emit puffs of smoke. Next week the production by Alexei Ratmansky returns to American Ballet Theater repertory at the Metropolitan Opera House. The score has also prompted a wide range of remarkably picturesque stage designs. Compelling and mysterious, the story Stravinsky tells is about magic, love, danger and liberation. Yet the score retains the feeling of myth. The narrative, though, changes with each choreographic interpreter. The music for “The Firebird” (1910) - the first classic composition by Igor Stravinsky - is a masterpiece of musical narration. Storytelling is often the most underrated of a choreographer’s gifts, but frequently it’s the most crucial.
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