Preston Chamblee, Owen Flacke, Jules Mabie and Andrew Veyette in 'The Naked King.' Erin Baiano
New York City Ballet's current season, through March 1 -- with its rich assortment of mixed bills and a coming two-week run of "The Sleeping Beauty" in Peter Martins's sometimes hectic two-act staging from 1991 -- has now presented two world premieres: "The Wind-Up," by resident choreographer and artistic adviser Justin Peck, and "The Naked King," by artist in residence Alexei Ratmansky. The new creations entered the repertory amid a number of authoritative performances of tried and true ballets -- mostly by the troupe's incomparable founding choreographer George Balanchine.
Mr. Peck's 19-minute showcase for six dancers, to the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica"), showed the choreographer having a grand time challenging his three men and three women. The result is an artful onslaught of high-flying, spinning, partnered and sometimes tumbling excursions suggesting that Mr. Peck was eagerly all wound up as he choreographed.
The bare-legged dancers sport various hard-edged, geometric designs on their sleek costumes, designed by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung. The look suggests part superhero and part space-age toy as Mr. Peck’s choreography reveals bolting and turning jumps alongside spinning-top turns for the men as well as sharp pointework for the women, often leading to tautly extended and held legs.
Lighting designer Brandon Stirling Baker’s background of changing color fields aids the ballet’s generally punchy pace, honoring Beethoven’s “Allegro con brio” tempo marking. In the end, it’s the men who dominate the action and easily catch the audience’s attention, especially cheeky Roman Mejia in one cast and stylish Ryan Tomash in another, while a seemingly unstoppable Daniel Ulbricht further fortifies the first cast, in which Mira Nadon held the stage alongside her male counterparts with striking command.
“The Naked King,” Mr. Ratmansky’s 27-minute narrative ballet to Jean Françaix’s little-known 1935 ballet score, is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” It enters NYCB’s repertory as the troupe’s 500th creation and as something of a rarity among its catalog of world premieres, which overwhelmingly take their inspiration from their chosen music, as Mr. Peck’s does.
Mr. Ratmansky told the New York Times that the idea for his ballet came from pondering the “No Kings” demonstrations around the U.S. against the policies of President Trump. The King in Mr. Ratmansky’s ballet, dressed in an array of period styles by Santo Loquasto, is a mincing, foppish Louis XIV figure prancing around on red-heeled pumps, with a cascading peruke of golden curls framing his rouged face.
So far, so clear, but even given the program’s three-sentence synopsis, what unfolds around the vain King fails to deliver narrative clarity. While Mr. Ratmansky’s choreography engagingly connects as vivid dancing to the somewhat Stravinsky-like aspects of Françaix’s occasionally boisterous score, his storyline regarding conniving Swindlers, an unfaithful Queen with her slinky lover, an obsequious entourage and scrappy Townspeople gets lost in the mix.
What starts comedically high, with the fussily garbed, potbellied King, who literally walks over his subjects, and closes with more hilarity as he reappears naked -- thanks to a saggy, bulbous fat suit that gets a fig leaf in the end -- loses momentum in between. The dancing and carrying on by the secondary characters mostly feels like filler.
Fortunately, Mr. Ratmansky’s choreographic savvy was on fine display this season with repeat performances of his lively, non-narrative “Paquita,” created last year. And with Ms. Nadon growing further as its ballerina lead, it proved a joy; while in one of its female solos corps de ballet dancer Kloe Walker made a debut that announced what an accomplished and thrilling performer she already is.
Beautifully gracing another mixed bill were luminous performances of Balanchine’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin” (1975), to Maurice Ravel’s composition of the same title. Not seen since 2018, it was created as an ensemble work without any leading dancers, arranged for two groups of four couples. The limpid four-movement ballet is both courtly and casual, with its intricately evolving choreographic patterns gently beguiling, as if seen in a crystalline hall of mirrors.
Elsewhere, performances of Balanchine’s “Kammermusik No. 2” (1978), to Paul Hindemith, featured Ms. Nadon paired with Mr. Tomash. With the animation of her ponytail helping to complete the flashing dynamics of her often-prancing moves, Ms. Nadon gained even more flair when joined by Mr. Tomash -- who matched her verve, accentuation for accentuation.
Following his avid performing in “The Wind-Up,” Mr. Mejia made impressive debuts as the male lead of Jerome Robbins’s “Opus 19/The Dreamer” (1979) and in the title role of Balanchine’s “The Prodigal Son” (1929), both to Prokofiev. In the former he proved compellingly contemplative and introspective; while in the latter he established an impressive arc, growing from unleashing unbounded extroverted dimensions to embodying crumpled dejection.
Several NYCB dancers will be making debuts in “The Sleeping Beauty.” Given what they have shown in the season so far, Ms.Nadon, Ms.Walker and Messrs.Mejia and Tomash all hold out promise to further distinguish themselves in this narrative classic.