Heiress Presumptive

At London's Covent Garden last week, the curtain opened on an intriguing pair of firsts: the first all-British full-length ballet, for which Benjamin Britten had composed his first ballet score. It was written especially for Ballerina Svetlana Beriosova, rising young (23) star of the Sadler's Wells Ballet.

The Prince of the Pagodas was a mixed bag of occasionally singing melody and frequently turgid choreography. For at least two acts, Britten's music was sonorous and strong, enriched by a variety of percussion effects and deft syncopation. Less successful was the work of Choreographer John Cranko, who all too frequently allowed the story to lose its way in symbolic labyrinths. The fantastic plot describes the betrayal of a Lear-like king by his wicked daughter, and the eventual restoration of the king's realm by the intervention of his faithful and beautiful younger daughter.

In a sense, the casting of Ballerina Beriosova as the female lead was more interesting than either plot or music, for it was further indication that she is the heiress presumptive to Margot Fonteyn as the company's prima ballerina. Born in Lithuania, Svetlana trained in New York and Paris, joined Sadler's Wells in 1950. With the retirement of Dancer Violetta Elvin (to marry for the third time), Beriosova stepped into more and more of Fonteyn's roles. More enthusiastically than ever, the critics applauded her lithe, leggy build, her cool, fluid movements, which are reminiscent of the early Fonteyn's. Although the restrictions of Pagodas' choreography gave the critics less to rave about last week, Beriosova displayed the classic arch-of-back and lift-of-leg passages that have moved her audiences in the past. There is still no indication of when 37-year-old Margot Fonteyn will finally step down, but when she does, the Sadler's Wells company may well find in Beriosova a talented replacement.

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