ABT in Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale: CliffsNotes Shakespeare

Christopher Wheeldon’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s “problem play” The Winter’s Tale is quite simply the best-looking ballet I have ever seen. The designs by Bob Crowley are stunning. Basil Twist’s silk effects illustrated maybe the most unstageable of Shakespeare’s stage directions for Antigonus: “Exit, pursued by a bear”. The costumes were primary colors in the melodramatic first act, pastels in the bucolic second act, and a sea of white in the uplifting final act. They fit the dancers’ profiles perfectly. The cold marble pillars of Sicilia contrasted with the gorgeous branching tree in the rustic second act. The aesthetics of The Winter’s Tale almost made the whole thing worth watching. 

Did the choreography match the beauty of the designs? Alas, it did not. Wheeldon’s choreography has a tendency to merely shade in the music rather than truly bringing it to life. He is fond of a few repeating motifs: there is a hunched torso, leg extended in a developpé devant that is repeated ad nauseum. 

The issue with Shakespeare’s sprawling drama is that there are so many plot points to hit. Wheeldon hits all of them with dutiful diligence in the hour-long first act. It’s like he was ticking off a checklist. Leontes and Hermione are married with a young son Mamillius? Check. Hermione is pregnant with another child? Check. Leontes is convinced Hermione is cheating on him with Polixenes when he sees Polixenes touch Hermione’s baby bump? Check. You get the point. 

Great CliffsNotes. But Wheeldon never manages to convey the emotion of Shakespeare’s play: Leontes’ monstrous jealousy and insecurity. It’s telling rather than showing. Leontes expresses his jealousy by miming that the baby is Polixenes’ and hunching behind pillars to watch Polixenes and Hermione dance. He points his fingers angrily and flies across the stage in angry sissones. We know he is furious at Hermione because he drags her across the stage and beats her. Balanchine said ballet should make you “see the music, hear the dance.”  Wheeldon’s choreography makes you see the story and no more.

In Act 2, with the bulk of the exposition over with, the ballet has some room to breathe. There are even onstage musicians. The pastoral second act with several pas de deux for Perdita (daughter of Leontes and Hermione) and Florizel (son of Polixenes) and a divertissement for the shepherdesses is by far the best part of the ballet. The duet between Perdita and Florizel had a delightful final pose in which Perdita wraps her entire body around Florizel’s neck and the two kiss.The final act wraps up the storyline in a nice neat bow. 

The Joby Talbot score did not help. It is serviceable but not more than that. It sounds like meandering movie music. The most effective soundtracks (and this is what the Talbot score felt like) give you repeating themes and motifs. Talbot’s score has none of that. It sounded cold and clinical, even when the story is demanding emotion. The final reconciliation pas de deux between Leontes and Perdita should be a four hankie moment, but instead all I thought was “well, that’s nice”. 

It’s a shame, because the ballet has a large cast and does give opportunities for many dancers in American Ballet Theatre. The best two performances came from Skylar Brandt (Perdita) and Jake Roxander (Florizel). Their dancing had youth, charm, lightness. Claire Davison as Paulina, Hermiones’ loyal maid, also exuded fierce loyalty and decency. Her choreography did not go much beyond standing ramrod straight on pointe (to emphasize how morally upright she is?), but she had authority. James Whiteside, who can be bland in more romantic roles, camped it up as Polixenes. Lea Fleytoux continues to have a star-making season. She glowed as the Shepherdess. Elwince Magbitang (Clown) had huge jumps that garnered much applause.

Unfortunately, both Herman Cornejo (Leontes) and Cassandra Trenary (Hermione) were defeated by the material. Perhaps Cornejo isn’t comfortable playing such a disturbing character. The role’s originator was Edward Watson, whose trademark role was Prince Rudolf in Mayerling. Cornejo could not summon the same Byronic energy. Trenary is leaving ABT at the end of this week to go to Vienna. She was warm, sympathetic, and expressive. But the thinness of the choreography worked against her. 

And that is perhaps the most damning thing about The Winter’s Tale: it wastes the talent of its cast.