Swan Lake at Chandler Center for the Arts

In Swan Lake, Prince’s Siegfried comes of age and his subjects come from far and wide to celebrate and to swear allegiance to their new ruler. His mother, the Queen Mother of the Realm, reminds him that it is time to choose a bride. Overcome by a desire to be alone, he leaves the castle and notices a flight of white swans heading toward a nearby lake and follows them. As he nears, he sees the Swans have stepped ashore and assumed human form! He reveals himself and Odette, the swan’s Queen, tells him of their terrible curse. They are all at the mercy of the wicked sorcerer Rotbart and only by finding true love can the evil spell be lifted.

Siegfried, overcome with love at first sight, swears to her an everlasting love. As the sun beings to dawn, Odette warns him that if he breaks his oath, nothing will be able to help them. The Prince is completely overcome by the incomparable and exquisite delicacy of Odette, and swears that he will return and free her from the evil spell. As the sunlight touches them, the women transform back into Swans, cloaked in silence.

Siegfried returns to the castle and a couple of new guests are announced. The evil sorcerer, Rotbart, enters in the guise of a noble knight, and following close behind is his daughter, Odylle, who looks remarkably like Odette. Odylle seizes the brief moment of illusion and tricks him into confessing his undying love to her and proclaims that Odylle is to be his bride. Breaking his oath to Odette by professing love to another, he dooms Odette and the others to an eternity under Rotbart’s evil power. Suddenly a vision of the Swan Lake appears before Siegfried’s eyes, snapping him back into reality. He realizes the terrible mistake he has made. In despair he leaves the palace and hurries to Odette at the Lake.

The sorcerer raises a raging storm to conceal the Swan Lake behind a screen of dark clouds, but the Prince rushes headlong through the storm to Odette. The sorcerer attempts to conceal her from him, but no power can stop the young man whose heart is so full of love. The Prince overcomes all obstacles, and the spell cast by the evil sorcerer is dashed forever on the rock of true love.