DISAPPOINTING CRIME PUNISHES
Based on Choreographer Helen Pickett’s riveting dance interpretation of The Crucible at the Kennedy Center in 2023, I highly anticipated her version of Crime and Punishment performed by American Ballet Theatre. However, at Wednesday‘s opening something was lost in the translation (the show runs through Sunday). Instead of capturing the crescendo of anguish one gets from the 1866 novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the production is a confusing ramble that rarely deviates in intensity.
Cassandra Trenary (Raskolnikov) and Thomas Forster (Porfiry)
Perhaps because the story’s plot of a poor university student who commits murder and is tortured by guilt is so lengthy and complicated, it was too ambitious of a task to encapsulate its entirety. Yet, Pickett and co-director James Bonas tried to do exactly that in 20 scenes for two hours. By the production’s end, it had lost its luster.
Scene from Helen Pickett’s Crime and Punishment
Of course, this was no fault of the dancers, whose skill and stamina were highly impressive. Movement by Herman Cornejo as the lead, Raskolnikov, was unrestrained yet technical. Catherine Hurlin, who replaced Christine Shevchenko as Dunya, Raskolnikov’s impoverished sister, was exquisite and precise in her interpretation.
Fangqi Li (Sonya) and Breanne Granlund (Raskolnikov)
The general choreography—though monotonous in the end—wasn’t without glimpses of genius, especially in the group numbers. While Raskolnikov danced on his own, the rest of the cast surrounded him in unison movement. The effect showcased Raskolnikov’s self-imposed alienation in a crowded, unfeeling world.
Cassandra Trenary (Raskolnikov), SunMi Park (Sonya), and James Whiteside (Svidrigailov)
The stark tone of the story was mirrored in the play’s minimalistic set by Soutra Gilmour. It consisted of a dreary backdrop of a fuzzy building in cold blue tones, three large wooden boxes, and a set of stairs that were shifted around the stage to create scenes. At first these choices made sense, but as the play progressed, I longed for more that would add to the storyline. Short narrative sentences of text were projected by Tal Yarden—an attempt to guide the audience through the plot from one scene to the next. Yet, the plot was still confusing and although I appreciated the effort, it’s anticlimactic to summarize Dostoevsky’s prose in a few sentences.
Fangqi Li as Sonya
Despite whatever was going on onstage, the music by Isobel Waller-Bridge —while it couldn’t make up for the production’s shortcomings—was powerful and awe-inspiring.
Herman Cornejo as Raskolnikov
There is a growing trend to create ballets based on famous works of literature, and I applaud the experimental task. Maybe marrying such a large piece of prose with dance was too much to tackle.
photos by Kyle Froman
Crime and Punishment
world premiere by Helen Pickett
American Ballet Theatre
Kennedy Center
ends on February 16, 2025
for tickets, call visit Kennedy Center or ABT
for more shows, visit Theatre in DC
