On the Bright Stream (Playbill)

From Playbill.

A short excerpt: “The Bright Stream, which is set during a harvest festival on a collective farm in the Caucasus and has a cast of characters that includes milkmaids, dancers in drag, a tractor driver, and a doddering “inspector of quality,” is not meant to be taken too seriously. The ostensible “message” of the ballet is the enthusiasm of “the people” for the birth of a productive new society in which decadent behavior is scorned. But…it is quite obvious from the beginning that such elevated ideals are merely the pretext for a funny story about romantic goings-on on a farm in late summer when a pair of attractive ballet dancers comes to perform at the harvest festival. The result is a romantic farce worthy of Marivaux, with secret rendezvous, mistaken identities, and a dancer who disguises himself as a dog in order to defend a virtuous young schoolgirl.”