City Ballet Classics, Including "Agon" at Koch Theater New York City Ballet Sara Mearns in Balanchine's "Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3." at the David H. Koch Theater, in a triple bill with Balanchine's "Agon" and Robbins's "Fancy Free." What makes New York City Ballet unparalleled is its stock of masterpieces by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Selecting from a repertory so deep and diverse, and trying to match it with anything else, must be both a dream and a nightmare. Andrew Veyette, center, with Rebecca Krohn, left, and Ashley Laracey in Balanchine's "Agon." Robert Fairchild in Jerome Robbins's "Fancy Free." As a program "Agon," "Fancy Free" and "Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3" sounds like a surefire hit. That's two and one-quarter perfect works, each in a different genre. In the "Tchaikovsky" only the fourth section is first rate. Yet performances do matter, and at the David H. Koch Theater on Friday the performances were inconsistent. Balanchine's "Agon" is such a taut construction that even in a hit-and-miss rendition, like Friday's, it's still implacable. The dance calls for force, yet the force must be regulated for the work's wit to be felt. Andrew Veyette attacked his role explosively, but he also rushed. He's a visibly hard worker; while partnering he nearly stares a hole between the shoulder blades he's steadying. Conversely, Sébastien Marcovici moved so thickly he seemed out of place in a ballet so lean. But Mr. Marcovici served his principal purpose in "Agon," supporting the ever-lucid Wendy Whelan in the seminal pas de deux. And in the rhythmically tricky "Bransle Gay" section Teresa Reichlen's timing was thrillingly acute. Mr. Veyette, making his debut in Robbins's "Fancy Free," was more assured. He played his sailor (the role Robbins originated) as a guy's guy, so that the rumba steps in his show-off solo came as a nice surprise. You didn't know he had it in him (the character or the dancer). As his shipmate Daniel Ulbricht had plenty of technique to show off, but his character came off as a little fuzzy. As the sailor between them, the ham that his buddies tolerate and cheat, Robert Fairchild was a natural. He's the most charismatic actor the company has, and his dreamy lyricism brings back the 1940s, or at least the men in the movies of that era. So does Sterling Hyltin, who in her "Fancy Free" debut channeled her innocent sensuality into an unusually authentic portrait of a period working girl. "Agon" is a coherent suite, but Balanchine's choreography for "Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3" is really a sampler. The opening "Élegie" is one of those Romantic scenes in which the man's object of desire keeps disappearing into a corps of similar-looking women. On Friday the lead woman was unmistakable: Sara Mearns, as unbound as her hair. In the second section, "Valse Mélancolique," Janie Taylor (another debut) and Jared Angle expressed the frantic desperation of the waltz without appearing frantic. Extending her arms in front of her Ms. Taylor briefly recalled her haunting Sleepwalker in "La Sonnambula." These, along with Ana Sophia Scheller's in "Scherzo," were strong performances in minor Balanchine. They were followed by an inadequate performance in major Balanchine - the stand-alone "Theme and Variations," choreographed 23 years before the rest. Megan Fairchild has the technique to stay on top of this notoriously difficult classical role, yet her dancing remained unfinished, sketched in at the edges. Her partner, Joaquin De Luz, did not share that problem. "Theme and Variations" is, among other things, a study in épaulement, the angling of the upper body, and Mr. De Luz's épaulement is exemplary. Perfect ballets demand perfection.