"Le Corsaire opened a three-week season at the Coliseum in Covent Garden last night and marked a new high in the transformation of the Bolshoi after years of instability and uncertainty," Britain's Daily Telegraph said Tuesday.

The newspaper said the total cost of staging the ballet, which stars prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova and Ukraine's Denis Matviye

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nko and is being dubbed the "Pirates of the Caribbean en pointe," is believed to be close to 1 million pounds sterling.

The ballerina and her colleagues enjoyed the praise of prominent British and Russian guests at a reception in the Russian embassy, including Lady Spencer, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, Prince Michael of Kent, British Cabinet Minister Geoff Hoon, and Bolshoi tour producers Victor and Lillian Hochhauser.

"The Bolshoi has re-emerged after an infusion of money from Russian oligarchs and foreign well-wishers, and has never been in better financial health," the newspaper reads.

The Bolshoi Ballet has been bringing its best performances to London for over 50 years. This time the Bolshoi will give 22 performances in London, including productions of La Bayadere and Don Quixote, featuring the Bolshoi's youngest star Natalia Osipova, 21.

The Bolshoi will also "encore" its Bright Stream ballet, described by British critics as 'the best new ballet to come out of Russia in years" after its U.K. Premiere in London last summer.

LONDON, July 31 (RIA Novosti)