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This production, all $750,000 of it, is another of Tomasson's remarkable contributions to San Francisco Ballet's list of diadems, an elegant addition to the repertoire. Tomasson's pleasure in staging it is evident throughout, and it simply reeks of his good manners and keen appraisal of ballet's classical tradition.

The pleasure is not restricted to the stage, for Sheryl Flatow served not only as the writer of the program text, but as guest curator for the square pillars in the Opera House foyer which chronicle the history of this halycon example of nineteenth example of romanticballet. The cast also has fallen in to Tomasson's civilized reading of Theophile Gautier's libretto.

The Sunday matinee performance provided the one time only performance of Kristin Long and Parrish Maynard in the title roles with Peter Brandenhoff as Hilarion and Katita Waldo as Berthe. I hope to see the other casts, somehow, even with the Taylor company concurrently at the Yerba Buena Theater, and a dance trip scheduled for Los Angeles on Saturday and Ballet Folklorico de Vera Cruz on Sunday next. Balletco readers, therefore, may not get an appraisal of all casts this season.

Berthe's home is a solid, two story structure with beams which have taken a clue from Elizabethan England. Berthe and Giselle may be village folk, but their locus of vitners have provided them with a substantial home. There is the usual castle in the background, but a solid tree in the back. Off side sight lines made it impossible to determine what Loys' home looked like. The set holds little in surprises except perhaps a second story window where one sees Berthe's head briefly.

What is unusual are the inclusion of village women and children in what most often is seen as the encounter between village youth and visiting nobility with Berthe and the Duke of Courland the major exceptions. With a man looking like a copy of Renoir in his sketching hat, women in full length colorful dresses, and romping children, the picture of a community is well established. Tomasson has built an ambiance which heightens the forthcoming tragedy.

Peter Brandenhoff, with a background of training at the Royal Danish, excels in handsome peasant roles. His Gurn in "La Sylphide" was the first such example, and here his Hilarion follows the earlier example, just a nice guy much in love with Giselle, but lacking that special nuance which Loys has to snare Giselle's affections. Brandenhoff is tall, strongly built, has excellent Bournonville type ballon. I hope some day he gets a proper crack at the danseur noble roles for he shows every sign of being one of the company's most versatile male dancers. I would hate seeing him consigned to one form of casting.

Kristin Long, making her debut in one of ballet's most coveted roles, is more than adequate technically. Dark of hair, round of face, there is something forthright in stage presence which reminds one of early photographs of Fonteyn. Elusiveness and fragility come hard for Long, as did the mad scene. One can't judge her off, however, for it was a balanced debut in terms of both acts, and thoughtful as well as technically clean and crisp. She needs time to build the rubato in her movement, but there is little question but that Long will be a dependable exponent in the role.

Parrish Maynard as Albrecht (Loys) has performed the role before with American Ballet Theatre. His portrait is one of an obvious aristocrat, impatient with Erik Wagner's expressions of doubt as his squire Wilfred. He also is impetuous with Giselle and insistent in his maneuvers around Berthe. His jete is clean and high and his motivations are clear. There is a good interaction with Giselle and her sense of being overwhelmed at her good fortune with him is patent.

The aristocrats take a number of their costumes from example of Dutch Master's. I got the feeling that Holbein had provided the model for the Duke and Bathilde, with a heavy emphasis on scarlet. Bathilde's mustard-hued hat with its glorified Aussie brim is quite the chic bonnet I've seen in the many productions I've enjoyed. Add a hunter green tunic over the red velvet skirt dotted with gold stars and its numerous folds and Batilde (Julia Adam) is a model of de rigeur elegance. She strides on stage with two white long-haired borzois which she strokes with a red-gloved hand before handing them over to the Duke's valet. It establishes so clearly her imperiousness.

The peasant pas de deux has been transformed into a pas de cinq. This seemed enormously sensible not only for the range of company technicians, but to provide the aristocracy with the range and variety of the local talent. The Sunday matinee featured Guinnade Nedviguine and Gonzalo Garcia with Catherine Baker, Rachel Rufer and Sherri LeBlanc. Where Nedviguine has ease and calm, Garcia is explosive. Both are terrific, sport multiple pirouettes, a high free jete. Garcia was provided with an especially complicated turn ending with a jete over one leg. Supported turns on a bent knee were assigned to Baker and Rufer which straightened into an attitude turn en dehors. Sherri Le Blanc was given a solo variation displaying her excellent grand jete and ability to alter directions swiftly.

I should mention Ikolo Griffin whose delight in the music made of his villager someone filled with the occasion. He has an unusual ability to be in the moment, and it is a singularly nice touch.

The consternation and the confrontation between Bathilde and Giselle and the uneasiness created by Hilarion's disclosure was wonderfully well motivated. When Long rushed between Bathilde and Albrecht it was panic, disbelief and abyss in a flash. When Long was able to move in context of Giselle's portrayal she was totally true to the situation. It was in the pauses and the recollections where her portrait lacked coherence.

In this production, The Duke and Bathilde remain on the spot watching Giselle disintegrate, leaving only at her death.

The final moments were equally fine. Giselle rushes through the villagers and confronts Hilarion who points to Berthe, the source of security. Giselle runs to her, turns, moves toward Albrecht and falls. There is the usual exchange between Albrecht and Hilarion, but Albrecht is dismissed by Berthe as he is gathered up by faithful Wilfred.

Act II is the visual glory of the production. The scrim is a pattern of heavy oaks with spreading branches through which one can see the villagers move with lanterns, only to flee at the flashing lights portending the Wilis, their fears augmented by one swiftly moving Wilis via wires. Then the scrim begins to move, not up, but a lateral parting and slowly curling back to reveal the distant lake on upstage right and a tree lined avenue on upstage left. It is a singularly handsome setting.

Sabina Allemann danced Myrthe with Julie Diana and Leslie Young as her ghostly lieutenants. A handsome, dark-haired woman, Allemann will retire the end of this season. Her style lends itself to the role, which she is sharing with Muriel Maffre and Sherri Le Blanc. Rather than join her fellow Wilis in the back bends in the initial gathering of the spectral circle, she stands in the center of the Wilis, monarch of the shadows. This quality remains throughout her portrayal.

Julie Diana and Leslie Young were impressive in their brief solos. I found Diana a bit more subdued but felt in Young's attack and arabesques, not only a love of the music and the role, but also a Myrthe in the making.

The corps is new to the style and one can hear them in the lateral hopping arabesques across stage. The rendition seems a bit dutiful at the moment, shy of the sharpness and belief the Cubans exhibited with such fullness.

Giselle's initiation is rendered with a great burst of speed, but Long's rounded contours are simply too healthy to be ghostly. However, her ballon goes a long way to compensate, and the jetes and entrechats lacked nothing for lightness and swiftness.

Brandenhoff's final moments as Hilarion displayed not only disbelief, exhaustion, but a fine elevation. The Tomasson interpretation provided some genuine involvement and struggle with the Wilis, which often is simply cursory.

Albrecht also was well motivated as he began to see visions of Giselle and to contend with the fatal command of Myrthe. The second act is a projection of Albrecht's mental turmoil. Giselle is supposed to be a manifestation of his psyche, the struggle with the Wilis reflecting remorse and emotional transformation. It is because there is an emotional connection with Giselle that Albrecht is able to survive the female specters. Hilarion perishes because he never achieved that connection.

I did not feel Maynard conveyed Giselle as that projection, but his increasing exhaustion and final collapse on Giselle's grave were most convincing. That added touch I have experienced only twice: in the Albrechts of Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Lavrovsky. I'm always ready to witness number three.