Following this, Orion returns to stop the union, but is foiled by the goddess Diana, in a cameo by Paulina Waski. However, Diana is furious at Sylvia for breaking her vow to not fall in love, until Eros shows a scene, revealed behind a scrim above the action onstage, of her own tryst with the shepherd Endymion. A momentarily wistful Diana changes her mind and blesses Sylvia and Aminta’s union. 

The entire production welcomed American Ballet Theatre taking the “theatre” part seriously, preserving all of Ashton’s flair and romance between the natural and supernatural without any hint of self-consciously maudlin dramatics. As Sylvia, Misseldine shone in the part Ashton originally choreographed for Margot Fonteyn, gracefully enunciating her sensitive footwork, musicality, and acting chops as if she had been performing the part as long as Fonteyn. She easily executed double and triple pirouettes from fifth, even while her port de bras never showed signs of strains so common in relative youth. The torch appears to be passing. 

Indeed, a few years ago, Whiteside might have danced the male lead rather than the villainous Orion. Effortlessly, Whiteside captures the inherent comedy of the villain; unlike Von Rothbart, this is not a villain to be taken seriously. None of the humor in the ballet, save perhaps for Miyake’s prancing feet when disguised as a beggar, is terribly broad. Yet even Orion’s larkies have a cartoonish aspect, as evidenced by the side-by-side duet of Orion’s male servants in the cave scene, performed en caractère in baggy pants with flexed feet in an almost vaudevillesque fashion. If Whiteside played his villain straight, then Orion’s attendants, danced by Scout Forsythe, Cameron McCune, Nathan Vendt, and Courtney Shealy, provided a sense broader comedy for balance. Misseldine, holding her own in what would be, in contemporary sight a drastic situation, seemingly knows that there are all kinds of mortals, whether it be Orion or Aminta, and that Sylvia would have no trouble in foiling any of them.