To hell with opression

This is a full-length ballet on the life of ­Pyotr Tchaikovsky set to the composer’s own music. What makes a biographical work interesting is not just “the truth” but an interesting take on the person concerned. “RE:Tjajkovskij” provides this by contradicting the popular myth and portraying the composer as a successful dissident.
The first of the ballet’s two acts focuses on Tchaikovsky’s struggle for self-realization, culminating in his ill-fated ­marriage.

This is the strongest and most hazardous scene of the ballet; the sole reason that it works is Thomas Zamolo as Tchaikovsky. Zamolo manages to give focus to the disrupted choreography and instills the movements with a hesitant, yet explosive quality, reminiscent of an animal on the verge of capture. In a burst of energy – to the climax of the 4th movement of the 5th symphony – Zamolo projects a desperation so strong that it makes me want to cry out: To hell with oppression!
The backbone of the ballet is the successful cooperation between Fonte and Zamolo; together they create a vision of Tchaikovsky that possesses the energy, charisma, sensuality and highly-strung emotionality that permeates the six symphonies.
The weak point ...