**** Highly Recommended **** The Joffrey Ballet’s Midsummer Night’s Dream is magnificent. If you’re a ballet traditionalist, it might not be the ballet for you. It’s abstract, avant-garde and maybe a bit confusing, but it fascinated me from start to finish. 4 Spotlights
Choreographer Alexander Ekman’s cutting-edge ballet celebrates the Swedish midsummer festival with a day-long party celebrating the longest day of the year in Act I; while Act II is a very bizarre, very sexy dream. Midsummer Night’s Dream is danced to original music by Mikael Karlsson, played by members of the Lyric Opera conducted by Scott Speck; with vocals by Swedish indie rock singer, Anna von Hausswolff.
As the audience finds their seats in the Auditorium Theatre, A Dreamer (Dylan Guiterrez) sleeps on the stage. A Hostess (Victoria Jaiani) drags him out of bed, he dresses quickly and they go off to the party.
The festival opens with the entire company playing in hay. In synchronized movements, the kneeling dancers wave handfuls of hay, occasionally throwing it up in the air. The hay almost seems to fall in time to the music. I thought it was exceptionally beautiful.
As the first act continue, the company participated in more typical festival activities – umbrella races, sack races, and so on. The Chef on pointe (Fernanco Duarte) tended a barbecue grill. By the way, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man wearing toe shoes before, much less dancing in them. I was in awe as he pranced around the stage. The day of play culminates in a drunken banquet at a giant table, complete with place settings and candlebras.
During intermission, A Dreamer is back in bed. Act II is his dream about the festival. Everything is just slightly askew. The bed is suspended in mid-air. The Dreamer is on top of the banquet table, which now looks like a ski jump. As Bodies drop off the table he struggles to stay put, but eventually falls – in slow motion – toward the floor. A fish falls from the sky and a ballerina picks it up, while a couple of giant fish chase the dancers.
Featured dancers on opening night include: A Dreamer – Dylan Guiterrez; A Hostess – Victoria Jaiani; Lovers - Jeraldine Mendoza & José Pablo Castro Curevas; Two Friends – Amanda Assucena & Valena Chaykina; Mr. Canon – Zachary Manske; A Bubbler – Hansol Jeong; Chef on pointe – Fernando Duarte; A Man with a flag – Paolo Randon; and the Headless men – Edson Barbosa & Davide Oldano.
Guests: Coco Alvarez-Mena, Evan Boersma, Anais Bueno, Lucia Connollly, Maxwell Dawe, Anabelle de la Nuez, Jonathan Dole, Derek Drilon, Olivia Duryea, Stefan Gonçalvez, Reed Henry, Dara Holmes, Yumi Kanazawa, Blake Kessler, Hyuma Kiyosawa, Nae Kojima, Brooke Linford, Graham Maverick, Lindy Mesmer, Jackson Miles, Valentino Moneglia Zamora, Xavier Núñez, Wictor Hugo pedroso, Lauren Quinn, Princess Reid, Aaron Renteria, Basia Rhoden, Christine Rocas, Julia Rust, Ryo Sasaki, Natali That, Alberto Velasquez, Ao Wang.
The Joffrey Ballet performs Midsummer Night’s Dream through May 5th at the Lyric Opera House, 20 North Upper Wacker Drive, Chicago. Running time is approximately 2 hours with a 20-minute intermission. Remaining performances are Thursday, May 2nd at 7:30 pm; Friday, May 3rd at 7:30 pm; Saturday, May 4th at 2:00 & 7:30 pm; and Sunday, May 5th at 2:00 pm. Tickets start at $36. FYI 312.386.8905 or joffrey.org.