Even if clowns don’t automatically send you screaming into the night, you might not have a great time at La Strada. The Romanian ballerina Alina Cojocaru is instigator and star of this circus-set ballet based on Fellini’s 1954 film. But although she’s a remarkable performer, the ballet itself lets the drama dribble away.
More than most leading ballerinas, Cojocaru steers her own destiny, building an international career as a guest star. Which makes it more striking that her great gift is for pathos – there’s no one better cast as love’s victim, destiny’s fool. Gelsomina, her young heroine here, is an innocent working for Zampanò, a brutish circus strongman who neglects and mistreats her.
