There is just enough of Cervantes’ plot retained in the ballet to hang a lot of gorgeous dancing on. In most of the scenes, Quixote (Timothy O’Donnell) and Sancho (Marc Petocci) enter, set up the scene, and then watch as the villagers, gypsies, or festival goers dance. Then, there’s some action relative to the Quixote plot and the scene ends. . (Although Petocci, who is a wonderful comic dancer, did get entertaining licks in as Sancho Panza--.)
Given that, it’s a great ballet just to lose yourself in the beauty of color and motion. Each of the major scenes had its own charms: Annia Hildalgo was excellent in the bravura role of Kitri in the first act. The swirling skirts of the gypsies in the second act were truly hypnotic, and the “white scene” of Don Quixote’s dream that follows was ethereally beautiful. As Georgie said, Davit Hovhannisyan and Luz San Miguel as the Lead Toreador and His Lady in the third act were “exquisite together.”
Maestro Andrews Sill and the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra delivered the music by Ludwig Minkus and Philip Feeney wonderfully well.
All together, a lovely evening of dance and music. We enjoyed it very much.
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