Houston Ballet, “Mayerling” by Connor Walsh at Wortham a triumph

The first time I saw Connor Walsh dance, he was a teenage graduate of the Houston Ballet Academy, flying across the stage with mile-high throws and a smile that radiated pure joy. Twenty years later, with countless performances infused into his bones, Houston Ballet’s golden man is not only still going strong; he may still be at his best.

The vehicle he drives is one of the most difficult in the world. Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s “Mayerling” has all the trappings of the great ballets that are typically a company’s bread and butter, but it tells a salacious true story: the Mayerling incident of 1889, in which Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary, aged 30, and his 17-year-old mistress died in an apparent murder-suicide at Mayerling, his hunting lodge.

“NEWSIES” ALWAYS DELIVERABLE: The news is still good for the play about a 19th-century newsboys’ strike.

Romeo and Juliet was not. Rudolf, raised without love in the rigid Habsburg court, was a train wreck: addicted to sex, drugs and alcohol, suffering from syphilis and morbidly attracted to guns and skulls. Mary Vetsera, whom historians describe as impulsive and nervous, was not the first mistress whom Rudolf attempted to induce into a suicide pact, but she was foolish enough to accept it.

Radical in 1978 when it premiered, the dark and psychoanalytic “Mayerling” gives a tame aspect to MacMillan’s tragic “Manon,” released four years earlier. Not for those sensitive to gun violence, the production uses a theatrical revolver and a few rifles. It’s hard to watch these props “shoot” without thinking of the deadly “Rust” shooting in New Mexico in 2021.

That said, “Mayerling” remains a masterpiece. Houston Ballet’s greatest achievement to date, it is full of complex characters, visceral movement, lush music (the score draws on 30 compositions by Franz Liszt) and sumptuous sets and costumes. If you need further convincing, consider this: A friend who rarely attends story ballets and often leaves at intermission attended the entire opening night – three hours, including two intermissions – and had it all eat. This says more than my words.

No other American company plays “Mayerling”. Houston first presented MacMillan’s ballet in 2017, weeks after Hurricane Harvey, at the Hobby Center. Only now is the production getting the space and staging it deserves at Wortham Theater Center.

Walsh and Karina González (Mary Vetsera) have also grown into their roles. As they devoured the stage seven years ago Thursday, they smoldered in a slow, sustained burn. Their desire seemed genuine as they let MacMillan’s captivating, tangled pas de deux do its work of expressing their characters’ inner turbulence.

Always a strong, gentle and generous partner, Walsh terribly climbs Everest with the role of Rudolf. Rarely off stage during the show, he effortlessly leads five different ballerinas – the prince’s mother, several mistresses and his hapless wife – through seven rigorous pas de deux, always with a touch of violence. It requires pacing, of course, but he also turns his anguish on himself during a riveting solo in Act III, as the drugged Rudolf descends into his own private hell.

Habsburg marriages were political alliances. True to this story, “Mayerling” matings are complicated. Infidelity is the norm. (Best tip if you want to know who’s who: arrive early enough to read the program notes.)

Much to Rudolf’s dismay, his mother, Empress Elisabeth (Yuriko Kajiya, balancing delicacy and distance), is dating Colonel “Bay” Middleton (Gian Carlo Perez, air gentleman). His father, Emperor Franz Joseph, also had a mistress, the actress Katharina Schratt, who was an accepted presence. A singer plays this role, performing a lieder for the court in a strange but important moment in Act II. The dancers freeze as mezzo-soprano Ani Kushyan sings tenderly, providing a thoughtful break from the frenetic action that is also tinged with apprehension.

Jessica Collado lights up the stage as the accomplice Countess Marie Larisch, a lady-in-waiting and important ex-mistress of Rudolf who seems to be the only person who sympathizes with him – at least until she introduces him to Mary. Danbi Kim is a dynamite Mitzi Caspar, the mistress who runs a brothel that Rudolf frequents. His acrobatic dance with the prince’s four Hungarian friends is dazzling. Mónica Gómez brings an unadorned sharpness to the role of Princess Stéphanie, Rudolf’s wife; she is disgusted but also helpless and intriguingly complex.

Simone Acri brings a bit of lightness during her lively, jumping and spinning solos as host and pilot Bratfisch. His attempts to encourage Rudolf fail, but the audience appreciates his spirit. (The court maids and ladies-in-waiting are the only other happy characters in the ballet, although they seem simply oblivious.) The four Hungarian officers (Ryo Kato, Riley McMurray, Naazir Muhammad and Ryan Williams) are a point bright in other ways, providing airborne fireworks.

Ermanno Florio and the Houston Ballet Orchestra make “Mayerling” sound as rich as the immense tapestry hanging above the empress’s couch, creating waves of emotional tension for the dancers to interpret.

“Mayerling” is great but not perfect. It opens and ends with a beautifully somber funeral scene. The first time, it sets the tone, but we don’t know who is buried. When the scene repeats at the end, Mary is dragged into the coffin. (The court quickly covered up the deaths, and although they buried her at night, Mary’s uncles supported her body with a broom for the coach ride to the cemetery.)

Other actions hint at legal intrigue; there are frequent whispers and documents are passed that raise alarm bells. This story is a lot to layer on top of an already complex ballet, but it references

Rudolf’s liberal politics and his sympathy for Hungarian causes made him suspect in the conservative world of Franz Joseph.

Several actors will alternate in the main roles throughout the series.