Last Friday night, the curtains of the Birmingham Hippodrome closed on a delighted audience; a wonderful opening night of Don Quixote for the Birmingham Royal Ballet, and one that finished with a well-deserved, in my opinion, standing ovation.

Don Quixote is, without a doubt, a very enjoyable ballet to watch. Whether you have been going to the ballet for years or for your first performance, the whole comedic aspect – not that common in ballet – will definitely have you leaving the theatre with a smile on your face. Don Quixote follows the love story of Kitri (Momoko Hirata), an innkeeper’s daughter, and Basilio (Mathias Dingman), a young barber. Kitri’s father (Valentin Olovyannikov) will not let her marry Basilio because of his lack of money, instead pushing her to marry Gamache (Rory Mackay), a rich nobleman. Of course, Don Quixote (Ton Rogers) and Sancho Panza (Kit Holder), his squire, also make an appearance; Don Quixote ends up helping convince the father to let Kitri marry Basilio. Because this is not a tragedy, all ends well – with a married couple.

In my recent interview with the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Assistant Director, Dominic Antonucci spoke of the difficulty that came with the comedy; the acting as well as the timing need to be perfect in order to deliver both a good joke and one that the audience understands. And I believe I can safely say that the Birmingham Royal Ballet did not disappoint on this side – if I can use the constant huffing of laughter from the audience as proof.

On the other hand, there were some other parts of the ballet I thought lacking. For example, some of the costumes were very underwhelming and unfortunately, Kitri and her two friends’ costumes were the ones that fell short for me – too plain and fitting the dancers a bit strangely for what I know the Birmingham Royal Ballet can do. Basilio’s costume was also not the best I have seen, and while it was alright, seeing photos of what the costumes look like in other companies’ productions really drives the point home. For reference, see this video of Carlos Acosta (the current Director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet) as Basilio and Marianela Nuñez dancing the Act II pas de deux at the Royal Ballet. (And, funny enough, the costume shown on the promotional photo for the ballet is the Royal Ballet one, not the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s.)

This was, however, completely balanced by the costumes in the second act and in the wedding scene at the end of the ballet: the Gypsies’ costumes were stunning, the dream scene had some very nice classical tutus (although I could not quite decide whether the amount of glitter on them made them a little tacky) and Kitri and Basilio’s white wedding costumes were breath-taking. Mercedes, a street dancer and Kitri’s friend, was also one of the only characters from the main cast who had a lovely costume: beautiful colours, great accessories (the earrings!), fit the character’s personality perfectly, and stunning overall.

There is a common assumption that tragic ballets such as Romeo and Juliet are harder to act – I am not saying this is entirely wrong; pain and sadness will never be an easy thing to act, but Don Quixote is proof that the opposite is not all that easy either; some of the dancers were having difficulty on stage keeping smiles on their faces as soon as the dance sped up or became more difficult technically.

However, Momoko Hirata’s experience as a dancer shone through during those moments; she never once lost her energy which made it impossible to stop looking at her – an impressive stage presence. It was lovely to see Mathias Dingman again after having seen him dance Romeo a few months ago, and it was impressive seeing him excel in roles as different as Romeo and Basilio, roles that could even be deemed polar opposites. Yu Kurihara was also gorgeous last Friday and stood out from the rest of the cast with her amazing portrayal of Mercedes – I was always paying just a little more attention when she was dancing.

In terms of the stage, I quite appreciated the staging’s simplicity for this performance. Other than backdrops showing the village’s houses and the tavern, the screen in Act II showing the windmill Don Quixote mistakes for a monster was very well made and definitely added to the performance. I found the dream sequence beautiful, but most of all, the final scene with the wedding was undoubtedly my favourite; I loved the flowers decorating the arches.

If I avoid nit-picking about the corps de ballet which could have in moments been a little more together or have had tighter formations, this production was one worthy of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Beatrice Parma, who I saw as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, really stood out from the corps in the dream scene in Act II. But it was obvious how much work everyone but especially the principals, first soloists, and soloists put into the dance, as well as how much fun the entire cast had during the entirety of the performance ­– energy which was easily shared with the audience.

If you have the chance to go see the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production of Don Quixote, I would definitely tell you to not miss the opportunity. Don Quixote is one of the best ballets out there for ballet newbies, but ballet connoisseurs will definitely enjoy recognising the more famous variations such as The Queen of The Dryads and Cupid (although you might be, as I was, a little taken aback by the company’s decision to re-choreograph the iconic variation for a man – not necessarily in a bad way, but interesting for sure) from the ballet, and all will enjoy seeing these danced very well by our beloved soloists.

In the end, this is a win for the Birmingham Royal Ballet who put on a great opening night. Congrats to all the dancers for their hard work, and I wish them great future performances and tour. As for me, I am really looking forward to attending their future ballets!

Rating: 4/5

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