United Kingdom Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Don Quixote: Dancers, Royal Ballet Sinfonia / Thomas Jung (conductor). Sadler’s Wells, London, 25.4.2026. (JO’D)
In 2013 Carlos Acosta choreographed a version of Don Quixote, after Marius Petipa, for The Royal Ballet. In 2022 he revived that production for Birmingham Royal Ballet, of which he was, and is, the Director. Designer Tim Hatley ‘rethought’ his designs. Composer Hans Vercauteren reinterpreted the Ludwig Minkus score of 1869, which had previously been arranged and orchestrated by Martin Yates. The resulting reduction in brass and percussion gives the music (as played by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under conductor, Thomas Jung) a lighter feel. A less acidic colour palette makes the ballet nicer to look at. A less complicated staging, for a touring production, frees the dance.
The story, lighthearted in the main, comes from a section of Miguel de Cervantes’s eponymous novel. Breaking his journey in search of Dulcinea, the woman of his dreams, Don Quixote helps a young couple thwarted by the girl’s father’s plan to marry her to a rich nobleman. As Kitri, the girl, First Soloist Katherine Ochoa is a spark that ignites the stage. A hug after the third-act pas de deux showed how grateful she was to her partner, Principal dancer Tzu-Chao Chou in the often-comic role of penniless barber, Basilio.
The non-dancing role of Don Quixote was taken by a benign Jonathan Payn. That of Sancho Panza, his servant, by Olivia Chang-Clarke (her eyes full of expression) en travesti. With its three acts, its cast of townspeople, matadors, and gypsies, and its Petipa choreography, Don Quixote gives several dancers the opportunity to shine. Mason King, as the matador Espada, was one of them. But it was as an ensemble, in the final performance of their three days at Sadler’s Wells, that Birmingham Royal Ballet impressed. The townspeople, to a town person, inhabited their roles. With the awareness of ‘Time’s wingèd chariot’ that ballet gives you, it was possible to see the future ‘Olgas’ and ‘Lenskys’ of Onegin, for example, among Kitri’s friends and the four ‘street boys’.
It was in second act that the colours of the 2013 production were at their most acidic, most harsh. This act has been redesigned completely. Video and Projection designer Nina Dunn uses just the right amount of technology to make something eerie of windmills in the gypsy scene. In the ‘vision scene’ that follows, Dryads and their Queen (Yuki Sugiura) dance beneath the branches of a silver tree set in the middle of the stage. The role of ‘Amour’, who presents Don Quixote with a vision of Kitri as Dulcinea (Samara Downs), is this time danced by a man (Tom Hazelby) in an off-the-shoulder tunic of blue and gold.
If Don Quixote is a ballet with some very funny moments, it has room for classical ballet’s ‘more thoughtful joy’. During the pas de deux of Act III, for the now married Kitri and Basilio, a solemn strain reminds you it was Minkus who composed the music for the ‘Kingdom of the Shades’ scene in La Bayadère. Music in a similar vein heightens the ballet’s bittersweet ending. Kitri and Basilio sit down at a table to one side of the stage, to be happy. Don Quixote, with Sancho Panza in tow, sets off again on his quest.
John O’Dwyer
Featured Image: The Artists of Birmingham Royal Ballet © Tristram Kenton
Cast:
Don Quixote – Jonathan Payn
Sancho Panza – Olivia Chang-Clarke
Lorenzo – Rory Mackay
Kitri – Katherine Ochoa
Basilio – Tzu-Chao Chou
Gamache – August Generalli
Espada – Eilis Small
Kitri’s Friends – Reina Fuchigami, Hannah Martin
Two Matadors – Gabriel Anderson, Haoliang Fey
Gypsy Couple – Frieda Kaden, Ryan Felix
Queen of the Dryads – Yuki Sugiura
Amour – Tom Hazelby
Dulcinea – Samara Downs
Fandango Couple – Frieda Kaden, Ryan Felix
Townspeople, Matadors, Gypsies, Dryads – Artists of Birmingham Royal Ballet
On-stage Guitarists – Tom Ellis, Alexander Crawford
Creatives:
Music – Original music composed by Ludwig Minkus; Arrangement (2022)
Hans Vercauteren (Act II Campfire Sequence: original music composed by Hans Vercauteren)
Choreography – Carlos Acosta after Marius Petipa
Production – Carlos Acosta
Set and Costume design – Tim Hatley
Video design – Nina Dunn
Lighting – Peter Mumford
Staging – Christopher Saunders