If American Ballet Theatre’s opening attraction, Swan Lake, was intended to show off the company’s women, its second attraction was all about the men. Le Corsaire is a rollicking 19th-century Russian comedy enlivened by a lusty male quartet of heroes and villains. What better fit for a company famous for its gorgeous men?

Indeed, they were the reason for seeing this brisk and efficient production (staged by Anna-Marie Holmes after Petipa and Konstantin Sergeyev) that brought ABT’s London season to a close. It’s packed with dancing — for women as well as men — but light on emotional fine-tuning and stylistic niceties. A silly tale of pirates, pashas, damsels in distress and Turkish slave traders (loosely based on Byron), it unfolds like a handsome cartoon.

The company plays it Russian-style, and why not? It’s all about aiming to please. And no one did it more obviously on opening night than Angel Corella, who lapped up the audience’s attention like a cat swimming in cream. As the slave Ali he enjoyed some of the show’s biggest moves, which he unleashed with melodramatic flair. His master is Conrad, the pirate determined to free his beloved Medora from the lecherous clutches of Pasha Seyd. Marcelo Gomes delivered a powerful and enthusiastic performance as the dashing Conrad, exhibiting a fantastic ability to be both taut and flamboyant in his dancing.

Equally impressive was Herman Cornejo as Lankendem, a man who has no qualms about selling slave girls to the highest bidder. Cornejo is a handsome villain, a most wonderful dancer whose beautifully modulated phrases move through the music rather than on top of it.

Carlos Lopez, the fourth member of the manly quartet, impressed as Birbanto, Conrad’s treacherous friend. Gillian Murphy, who proved herself a stunning Odette-Odile a week earlier, was a feisty Medora, indulging her talent as a prodigious turner (quadruple pirouettes among the fouettés, no less) while not forgetting to bring flirtatious sincerity to her romantic partnership with Conrad.

On the negative side was the conducting of Charles Barker, who took the score (Adam, Pugni, Delibes, Drigo and Oldenburg) strictly by numbers, while Mary Jo Dondlinger’s bilious lighting did sets and costumes no favours — especially in the Jardin Animé scene, here staged as a fruity pink confection that looked too trite and chocolate-box for such a dreamy and elegant tribute to female pulchritude.

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010