Swan Lake – review

Nehemiah Kish, who makes his debut in this season's Swan Lake, is proving an excellent acquisition for the Royal. He dances with a finely etched power and he can act with a scene-stealing intelligence – his Siegfried is an enjoyably worldly prince and a grown-up lover. But best of all, Kish is tall. And that means Zenaida Yanowsky finally has a partner with sufficient height to allow her to return to the role of Odette/Odile. It's been four years since I last saw Yanowsky dance this and incredibly, she is even better. At 5ft 8in she can't attempt a conventional Swan Princess, but she is an electrifying Swan Queen. Her long, exquisite arms have the feathery lightness and the magisterial power of wings, while her phrasing is preternaturally responsive to the expressive possibilities of the choreography. She finds time in the music for a rapt interplay of head, eyes and hands, and the moment when she finally yields to Siegfried seems to unravel in ecstatic slow motion as she arches back over his supporting arm in a poignant tumultuous sweep of movement. In the third act, Yanowsky concentrates her intelligence into scornful witty glamour and, in cahoots with William Tuckett's wickedly manipulative Rothbart, she casts an evil presence over the stage. But it's the final act that's most revelatory. Often the climactic life-and-death fight between the three protagonists is little more than self-conscious pantomime. But Yanowsky, Tuckett and Kish have us hanging on every detail as they scale the full tragic heights of Tchaikovsky's score. These were thrilling, stellar performances, which raised the game of everyone else around them. In rep until 8 April. Box office: 020-7304 4000.