Latest news with #ChristopherWheeldon
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: ‘Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' is Joffrey Ballet's wacky and wonderful season closer
The Joffrey Ballet's season rarely extends this far into summer, but it's safe to say 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was worth the wait. This beast of a ballet by the Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon had its North American premiere at the Lyric Opera House on Thursday. If, like for me, Lewis Carroll's 1865 fairy tale about a girl who stumbles into Wonderland is a core memory, all those beloved characters are there, with a splendidly cogent (and at times delightfully grotesque) libretto. It's more Tim Burton than Disney, but you'll recognize moments no matter your preferred version (including my personal favorite, the 1985 TV movie musical starring Jayne Meadows and Carol Channing). Following a drowse-inducing garden party at her Victorian Oxford estate, Alice (magnificently danced Thursday by Amanda Assucena) awakens to find an anxiously tardy White Rabbit (Stefan Gonçalvez). She of course must follow him, kicking off a series of Don Quixote-style adventures with wild, wacky and terrifying characters. Letting her curiosity guide her, she encounters a tea party hosted by a tap-dancing Mad Hatter (Edson Barbosa) and a slithering Cheshire Cat (whose dismantlement is made possible by a corps of dancer-puppeteers). Indeed, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' will resonate strongly with those who adore 'Alice' — so much so that Joffrey extended the production to three weekends before it opened. In any case, exploiting its usefulness as a ballet was far overdue. There is much within Wheeldon's zany world for everyone to admire. Very small children may not appreciate some scarier moments, most notably a scene at the Duchess' house, in which viewers quite literally see how the sausage gets made. The brutish Duchess (Dylan Gutierrez) and her ax-wielding cook (Lucia Connolly) contribute some of the night's most, um, salient imagery. The pair of them (along with henchmen Valentino Moneglia Zamora, Hyuma Kiyosawa and Xavier Núñez) are terrifically terrifying. 'Alice's' third and final act is devoted almost wholly to the search for who stole the Queen of Hearts' tart. It begins with a game of croquet, played with bendy flamingoes on pointe as the mallets, striking adorable summersaulting hedgehogs. This not-so-regal realm, ruled by prima ballerina Victoria Jaiani as supreme leader, embarks on a tribunal when it's uncovered that the Knave of Hearts — a two-eyed Jack danced by the princely Alberto Velazquez — is most likely the offender and about to lose his head. Hilarity ensues. As hard as it will be to peel your eyes from Jaiani, every once in a while, be sure to glimpse her ridiculous King (marking David Gombert's glorious return to the Joffrey stage 15 years after retirement). There are tender moments, too, particularly in a satisfyingly sweet duet for Assucena and Velazquez as Alice tries to accept the blame in tart-gate. She eventually prevails, if only by waking up back in Oxford. If there's a lesson to be learned from 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,' it might be that taking the blame for your boyfriend's impropriety could turn out poorly. That, and vindictive, power-hungry leaders whose kingdoms are built on a literal house of cards are not likely to succeed. Cleverly, 'Alice' borrows hallmarks from the ballets of Carroll's time, winking at canonical works like 'The Nutcracker,' 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Cinderella.' There's a waltz of flowers; a for our protagonist and her scrappy love interest; a hilariously satirized 'Rose Adagio' for the Queen of Hearts and four suitors (in this case, hearts and clubs); and a shirtless, hookah-smoking sultan-turned-Caterpillar (Jonathan Dole) performing a seductive take on 'the worm' with a quartet of scantily clad temple women. I'm pretty sure we didn't need that last one when 'Alice' premiered in London in 2011, and I'm certain we don't need it in 2025 — though I'll take the cameo of academy kids as sparkly pointe-shoed caterpillar legs all day, every day, plus Sunday. To be clear, such tongue-and-cheek references now to 19th century ballet are generally welcome and especially fun for those who see the parallels — perhaps even more so to those familiar with Wheeldon's catalog, too, which includes Joffrey's nearly decade-old 'Nutcracker.' In some instances, that ballet and this one parrot one another; Wheeldon went so far as to use some of the exact same ideas in his 'Nutcracker's' transformation and snow scenes, further tugging the plot parallels to these two coming-of-age stories set in magical fairy lands that may or may not have all been a dream. But 'Alice's' superpowers, all due respect to 'The Nutcracker,' are its magnificently evocative original score (by Joby Talbot) and Wheeldon's pinpointed attention to detail in every character, masterfully embraced by the Joffrey's excellent dancers, whose full-throttled performances and comedic prowess grab you and hold on for the entirety of this (very, very long) spectacle. Another thing: Wheeldon's imagination could only run this wild in a superbly-crafted Wonderland, made possible through the ingenuity of scenic and costume designer Bob Crowley, lighting designer Natasha Katz, projectionists Jon Driscoll and Gemma Carrington and puppeteer Toby Olié — seamlessly executed by a Joffrey team that, frankly, has never attempted something this big. 'Alice' was originally created for London's Royal Ballet, a company of 100 dancers and nearly 10 times Joffrey's budget. Until Thursday, it had not been performed this side of the Atlantic. Pulling it off was going to be a challenge. But they did. And Wonderland turned out to be a risk that will pay off in Joffrey Ballet presents 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' (4 stars) When: Through June 22 Where: Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes with 2 intermissions Tickets: $45-$233 at 312-386-8905 and
Spectator
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Christopher Wheeldon's real gifts lie in abstract dance
Christopher Wheeldon must be one of the most steadily productive and widely popular figures in today's dance world, but I'm yet to be persuaded that he has much gift for narrative. His adaptation of the novel Like Water for Chocolate was a hopeless muddle; his response to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is mere vaudeville; and I'm praying to St Jude that nobody is planning to import his dramatisation of Oscar Wilde's downfall, premièred in Australia last year. But as the elegant craftsman, and sometimes the inspired artist, of more abstract dance, he is without doubt a great talent. The Royal Ballet's programme of four of his shorter pieces showcases his strengths. Let's get the misfire out of the way first – The Two of Us is set to four Joni Mitchell standards, prissily sung live on stage by Julia Fordham (to do her justice, she was struggling against a faulty sound system). Lauren Cuthbertson and Calvin Richardson are wasted as they mooch around in shimmering pyjamas without ever establishing any compelling counterpoint to the implications of the lyrics or the mood of the music: they might as well be extemporising, and there's just not enough interest in the movement they come up with to hold one's interest. But everything else on offer gives much pleasure. Fool's Paradise, first seen at Covent Garden in 2012, is richly melancholy – perhaps subliminally a meditation on how relationships between three people inexorably gravitate into two, but more obviously a beautiful example of Wheeldon's neoclassicism. His aesthetic has been influenced by his long sojourn in America and his choreographic style reflects that of New York City Ballet luminaries such as Jerome Robbins and Justin Peck as much as it does that of his Royal Ballet precursors Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan: sleekly athletic, clean in line, devoid of jerks and twerks, milk and honey for dancers with fluent classical technique.
Times
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Ballet to Broadway review — a fine showcase for Christopher Wheeldon
As the title of this new mixed bill suggests, the British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon is equally at home in the Royal Opera House and the West End. His Alice's Adventures in Wonderland will close the Royal Ballet season at the end of June, while his Like Water for Chocolate will open the 2025-26 season in October. Meanwhile, his Broadway hit MJ The Musical, the award-winning Michael Jackson show he directed and choreographed, is still running in London and New York. It's this versatility that the Royal Opera House showcases with a quartet of creations ranging from 2007 to 2020. Not all of them are vintage Wheeldon, but the highlight — a new staging of the ballet from An American in Paris, the musical
Winnipeg Free Press
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
MJ, Les Misérables offered as 2-show package
Broadway Across Canada is bringing two award-winning musicals to the Centennial Concert Hall and offering a package deal for those who want to see both shows. First up is MJ, the multiple Tony-winning musical set around the making of Michael Jackson's 1992 Dangerous World Tour. The play about the pop singer, created by director/choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, will run Nov. 4-9. Next, Feb. 24-March 1 will see a run of the perennially popular Les Misérables, in a staging that has been called 'a reborn dream of a production.' Based on the book by Victor Hugo, it features such hits as I Dreamed a Dream, One Day More and On My Own. The two-show packages start at $172.75 and can be purchased at by phone at 204.949.3999 or in person at the box office, 555 Main St. They go on sale May 5 and offer access before single tickets.
The Guardian
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Where will the next Akram Khan come from?
Your excellent coverage of the Olivier awards (Report, 6 April) was extensive, but it was a shame not to see more celebration of the dance awards. Christopher Wheeldon won best theatre choreographer, Assembly Hall won best new dance production, Eva Yerbabuena won outstanding achievement in dance and the acclaimed choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh spoke powerfully about the beauty of the human body in motion. The evening was full of dance performances from London's West End. Moments like these highlight the art form's importance to our creative economy. However, despite this celebration of dance, recent research from the Cultural Learning Alliance reveals declining access to dance education for young people in poorer UK areas. As two small specialist conservatoires with a longstanding commitment to widening access to dance education, we are deeply concerned. Current funding structures put institutions like ours at risk. Decisions about funding settlements from 2026-27 could make vocational dance degree courses unaffordable for all but the most privileged students. The Department for Education and the Office for Students should reconsider funding provisions in the upcoming comprehensive spending review to ensure small specialist institutions remain accessible to all. With alumni like Akram Khan and Rishan Benjamin, our impact on dance is clear. Without support, the diversity and strength of UK dance is in jeopardy, and future Olivier awards might look very WatsonPrincipal, Northern School of Contemporary DanceMark OsterfieldPrincipal, Central School of Ballet Do you have a photograph you'd like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers' best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
