“Brilliant performance”. Audiences in Budapest are captivated by Boris Eifman’s ballet The Pygmalion Effect

On June 10, the premiere of Boris Eifman’s ballet The Pygmalion Effect took place at the Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest with howling success. The production, which is an original interpretation of the ancient myth about the artist and his coming alive creation, was performed by the Hungarian National Ballet. The ballet of the famous Russian choreographer to the music of Johann Strauss the Son received an enthusiastic reaction from the Western audience.

The creative team that participated in the release of The Pygmalion Effect turned out to be truly international. Thus, the well-known British conductor David Coleman who collaborated with the Paris Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera and other leading theatres, stood on a rostrum. The dancers from Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Japan, Italy and other countries performed the main and coryphee parts. Eifman Ballet was also presented by the leading soloist Lyubov Andreyeva and the tutor Ilya Osipov, they assisted the choreographer.

The Pygmalion Effect astonished the Budapest audience which was lavish with admiring comments on social networks after the premiere. “Brilliant performance… An amazing combination of classical and modern ballet,” one of the spectators writes. Another review is consonant: “A fantastic ballet at the opera house. Haven’t seen such a great performance in a long time.” Residents of the Hungarian capital call the production “amazing”, and Boris Eifman – “a big choreographer”.

The next performances of The Pygmalion Effect are scheduled for June 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22 and 25. It is expected that the ballet filled with bright humor and vivid energy will be a popular production in the playbill of the main theatre in Hungary.

Boris Eifman’s ballets have been transferred to the venues of many world cultural centers, including: Berlin, Vienna, Warsaw, Bratislava, Naples, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Seoul and other cities. Connoisseurs of dance in Budapest know the work of the choreographer, first of all, from the production The Karamazovs. A ballet based on The Brothers Karamazov novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky to music by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Richard Wagner, Modest Mussorgsky was included in the repertoire of the Hungarian National Ballet in 2009 and has been performed with unfailing success for more than 10 years.