The Royal Ballet, Wheeldon’s Ballet to Broadway: never a dull moment

Lukas B. Brændsrød and Marianela Nuñez in Wheeldon's Fools Paradise

Lauren Cuthbertson in Wheeldon's The Two of Us

Joseph Sissens and Matthew Ball in Wheeldon's Us

Matthew Ball and Joseph Sissens in Wheeldon's Us

Cesar Corrales and Anna Rose O'Sullivan in Wheeldon's An American in Paradise

Christopher Wheeldon's An American in Paris with The Royal Ballet

By Graham Watts, 11 May 2025

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“hybrid style of ballet and Broadway suits him, and he performed with notable bravado and charisma”

Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 9 May 2025

Fool's Paradise (Christopher Wheeldon)

The Two of Us (Christopher Wheeldon)

Us (Christopher Wheeldon)

An American in Paris (Wheeldon) (Christopher Wheeldon)

The Royal Ballet

Koen Kessels, Conductor

Bob Crowley, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Natasha Katz, Lighting Designer

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Marianela Núñez, Dancer

Lauren Cuthbertson, Dancer

Calvin Richardson, Dancer

Matthew Ball, Dancer

Joseph Sissens, Dancer

Anna Rose O'Sullivan, Dancer

Cesar Corrales, Dancer

Atlanta Ballet shines in a mixed contemporary program

Rebecca Ehrhardt, 3rd April

Atlanta Ballet's Golden Hour program featured two world premieres and the Atlanta premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour.

*****

NYCB: Ratmansky’s The Naked King is not satire, but good fun

Ivy Lin, 7th February

New York City Ballet presents a very entertaining quadruple bill which includes Alexei Ratmansky’s latest work, The Naked King, showing off the company’s comic talents.

****1

The Royal Ballet’s Like Water for Chocolate is sumptuous but complex

Amanda Jennings, 1st October

The Royal Ballet’s season opener, Christopher Wheeldon’s Like Water for Chocolate, is visually tremendous, very well danced but the many principal and soloist characters are difficult to keep up with.

****1

Ballet Nights makes an impressive and unforgettable Scottish debut

Kathy Elgin, 4th July

Ballet Nights is more than an evening of party pieces: it showcases emerging talent alongside older favourites and, in the case of this first Scottish outing, has an eye to local tradition.

****1

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

Ivy Lin, 2nd July

Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale is a sumptuous looking production but on this occasion, it didn’t come to life emotionally.

***11

Wheeldon’s Alice: The Royal Ballet shines in a vehicle of excellence

Amanda Jennings, 13th June

Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland shows off The Royal Ballet's roster of supreme dance actors in every version of technical wizardry and comic incarnation.

****1

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Graham Watts

Graham Watts is a freelance dance writer and critic writing regularly for Dancing Times, Dance Europe, Danza Europa, and many more publications. He regularly writes features for Sadler’s Wells, London Coliseum and La Scala. Chairman of the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle in the United Kingdom and of the UK National Dance Awards he has interviewed many of the greatest names in dance including Maya Plisetskaya, Vladimir Vasiliev, Boris Eifman, Alexei Ratmansky, Andris Liepa, Sir Peter Wright, David Bintley and Dame Gillian Lynne. When not involved in dance Graham is a keen fencer, and has captained the British Sabre team.