Don Quixote' dazzles in dancing and design

Production brings a modern feel to story without rejecting tradition

- MICHAEL CRABB

Genevieve Penn Nabity as Kitri and Harrison James as Basilio in the National Ballet of Canada's "Don Quixote." Basilio, a young barber, is determined to wed Kitri, the local the inn-keeper's vivacious daughter.

Don Quixote

✰✰✰✰ (out of 4)

Choreographed by Carlos Acosta after Marius Petipa; music by Ludwig Minkus with a new arrangement by Hans Vercauteren. At the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W., until June 9.

It's hard to imagine a more wildly enthusiastic audience than the one that greeted the National Ballet of Canada's new production of "Don Quixote" on Saturday night. There were moments when unbridled applause almost drowned out the orchestra. It's not difficult to understand why.

The company-and North American premiere of Cuban-British ballet superstar Carlos Acosta's 2022 staging of the 19th-century, three-act comedic warhorse was a triumph on several levels. In itself, without rejecting tradition, the production feels alive and of today.

The dancers meet the ballet's fearsome technical challenges and demands on stamina with almost nonchalant gusto. Even first time out, they looked as if they were having tremendous fun.

"Don Quixote" is theoretically a narrative ballet, but in truth there's little drama.

What exists comes from one of the many stories embedded in Miguel Cervantes' famous 17th-century epic novel. Even the title is misleading because the ballet's romantically delusional hidalgo ever in search of his idolized Dulcinea and his gluttonous servant Sancho Panza are mimed roles, in the case of the latter slapstick and clownishly so.

The real action belongs to Basilio and Kitri. Basilio is a young barber determined to wed Kitri, the local innkeeper's vivacious daughter.