The Bright Stream review – Bolshoi's gentle farce brings big guffaws — theguardian.com

The story behind the Bright Stream may be a more intriguing drama than the fun but frivolous tale it tells on stage. The original ballet was made in 1935 by the mostly forgotten choreographer Fedor Lopukhov, to one of Shostakovich’s three ballet scores, but the work got on the wrong side of Stalin and was banned. Its librettist was denounced in state newspaper Pravda, sent to the gulag and shot. Although the original steps are lost, choreographer and former Bolshoi artistic director Alexei Ratmansky came across the score and libretto in the 1990s and decided to create his own version of this Communist comedy set on a collective farm. The result is a rollicking romp that rides on Shostakovich’s dancing rhythms in a score full of melody and gusto. The story is a gentle farce, a jape to trick a husband with a wandering eye involving cross-dressing, identity swaps and a dog riding a bicycle.

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