The Royal Ballet should curate a Christopher Wheeldon evening every season since there is enough of his fascinating and diverse choreography to last for several years to come. Given that he is probably not yet at his choreographic prime, the prospect of regular Wheeldon evenings is even more tantalising. Although three of these four pieces were new to The Royal Ballet, an opportunity was missed to commission an entirely new work.
The 30-minute Fool’s Paradise was the only ballet to have been performed by the company before (albeit just six times) although it was initially made for Wheeldon’s own short-lived company, Morphoses, in 2007. It’s a beautiful exercise in sculptural choreography with flesh-coloured costumes augmenting a Rodin feel to the many poses: the opening and final tableaux of the dozen dancers are mesmerisingly beautiful.
The costumes, by Narcisco Rodriguez, are unattractive but their dull, muddy uniformity put all the visual emphasis on the dancers’ movement, further emphasised by a bare stage as the set. While all dancers were excellent, I was especially taken by the partnership of Akane Takada and William Bracewell and the work of Liam Boswell and Viola Pantuso (who is always so visible amongst any group). Kudos too for Marianela Nuñez for whom this choreographic style is not well suited, but she must have worked hard to conquer it’s stylistic and physical challenges. Morphoses slipped away many years ago, but this telling legacy stands amongst Wheeldon’s finest non-narrative works. It was also the first of many collaborations with Joby Talbot and although this particular music doesn’t particularly work for me, the best was (and perhaps still is) yet to come.
The mid-section comprised two works performed in front of an onstage orchestra, conducted with usual pizzazz by Koen Kessels, looking more and more like a rock star himself as the years go by!
An unfortunate backstage water leak meant the quick stopgap of a temporary sound setup and The Two of Us took the brunt of the resultant sound malfunction. Regrettably, Julia Fordham’s rendition of the four Joni Mitchell songs that comprise the score was so ineffective that I could not discern a single lyric from the first three songs (Both Sides Now is sufficiently familiar to know them instinctively) and Fordham’s voice was sadly often overpowered by the orchestra. It’s a shame because I think this is an excellent piece (Wheeldon created it for the Fall for Dance Festival in New York) and Lauren Cuthbertson was at her dreamily stunning best, supported excellently by Calvin Richardson. It would be good to see this work again, as Wheeldon intended, with a working sound system.
There were no such problems with Us, a piece made by Wheeldon for the BalletBoyz in 2017, to the folk/rock/classical hybrid music of Keaton Henson, which presented a tour de force for Matthew Ball and Joseph Sissens who performed the complex, challenging and sensual choreography with exceptional skill, mutual strength and sensitivity.
One of the attributes that sets Wheeldon apart from his contemporaries is his sense of theatre, emphasised in stagecraft, momentum (there’s never a dull moment) and climax. And there was no better way to end this programme than with a manufactured excerpt from his own musical theatre triumph of An American in Paris, essentially morphing the dream ballet sequence and the by-the-Seine duet for the romantic leads (Jerry and Lise) into a 25-minute ballet.
It provided a rich contrast with the opening work, exemplifying the theme of ballet to Broadway, with an explosion of colour (Bob Crowley’s multi-coloured costumes reminded me of the Vatican’s Swiss Guard uniforms) and vitality, from the sculptural shapes of Fool’s Paradise to the perpetual movement here. The ensemble dancers were clearly enjoying themselves with the familiar melodies of George Gershwin, a feeling that transmitted easily to the audience.
As Lise, Anna Rose O’Sullivan replaced an indisposed Francesca Hayward (I understand the latter will be back for performances later in the run) and, in the brunette bobbed wig, she reminded me of Leanne Cope, on whom this role was created, the choreography giving O'Sullivan the chance to shine with similar vivacity. Since the showbiz career of Cesar Corrales began onstage as Billy Elliott, this hybrid style of ballet and Broadway suits him, and he performed with notable bravado and charisma. If he can sing, Corrales would make a superb Billy Bigelow in Carousel (just saying!). Given the problems with the sound system, it was fortunate that the vivid projections for this work were unaffected.
One thing that was crystal clear throughout this programme was that amongst many skills, Wheeldon is unsurpassed in making meaningful, emotional, sensual duets, whether as expositions of heterosexual or same-sex romance, or simply as beautiful works of art.
I’m already mentally planning my fantasy Wheeldon programmes for future years, whilst also wondering when the (rightly) inevitable knighthood will come.
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