In 2013 Carlos Acosta created a new production of Don Quixote for The Royal Ballet. Roll on nine years and he’s made another one, this time for their Brummy sister company, a company he’s now the director of. They make an interesting comparison, the two shows; they’re both remarkably similar in tone and superficial appearance and yet there’s actually a lot of differences between them. The staging has altered (even though it looks like it’s just moved to the street around the corner), large chunks have been re-choreographed and there are even some new parts entirely, the most notable of which is the lovely duet for Basilio and Kitri that opens Act II. The costumes have also been re-designed but are remarkably similar to the 2013 production and the score has been re-orchestrated with some new music from Hans Vercauteren added as well. The end result is a satisfyingly traditional classical ballet knees-up.
As is well-known, the plot is pretty thin and Don Quixote himself plays second-fiddle to young lovers Basilio and Kitri who are desperate to get married despite Kitri’s father’s fiscal opposition. The reason it’s endured for 150 years is because it features some of the most spectacular bravura dancing of any ballet and it’s great fun to watch. With it’s large number of tricky variations across many roles, it’s also an excellent way to determine the strength in depth of a company and it has to be said Birmingham Royal Ballet impressed.
Momoko Hirata took on the coveted role of Kitri on opening night and while she’s no flirt, her dancing was as clean as a whistle. She also produced a quite extraordinary set-piece whereby she slowly turned her whole body round 360 degrees while knocking out a zillion fouettes. Mathias Dingman was a charismatic Basilio, throwing in a lot of fancy tricks that sometimes strained at the edges, but he was great to watch and was an excellent partner. Brandon Lawrence’s Espada was a delight; aggressive but unhurried, his legs hovered in the air like helicopters. His Mercedes, played deliciously by Yu Kurihara, was as sassy as they come and she and Lawrence made a great couple. An unexpected highlight was Tzu-Chao Chou as Amour; the role is normally a female one and although he was way, way too camp, Chou’s repertoire of held positions and lightning fast feet was extraordinary, Elsewhere, Javier Rojas just about managed to keep his Gypsy on the macho side of silly, Miki Mizutani and Yaoqian Shang were bright and breezy as Kitri’s friends, and the corps danced tidily when called upon with plenty of character investment across the stage.
Not everything is successful in this new production. One ‘innovation’ in 2013 was having the dancers shout out at random moments, not something that many audience members seem to love. Strangely, this new production has increased the shouting and on-stage chit-chat, but it’s still at irregular times so still comes across as forced. Also, although the staging is attractive, there were times (particularly in the first act) when things looked squashed and too many things were happening at once. But overall, this was a fabulously entertaining show and should prove something of a keeper for Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Gerard Davis
Dancing Review 