Don Quichotte at Opera national de Paris

[Paco]

I saw yesterday's performance with Hugo Marchand and Hannah O'Neill. Must say I have been somehow disappointed. Obviously Hugo Marchand (of whom I am a great fan!) was not in a good shape, showing unusual tiredness in Act III, where he should have been brilliant and virtuoso. Ms O'Neill delivered beautiful dancing as usual, but lacked brilliance. The fouettés were very clean but only academic (and rather slow in terms of tempi). For both ot them, and I shall say for the whole production and dancers, the global mindset of this ballet, made of joy and happiness, was missing.

 

There was a global weakness throughout the evening: too wise, too cautious, too academic. The main source of this lack of excitement was the lighting: very white, that kind of icy white, close to neon-like lighting. Good for Woyzeck but not for Don Quichotte... In such a cold environment, many joyful and brilliant variations missed their theatrical target, such as for instance the bohemians dance in Act II, which were hard to be visible from balcony as they were relegated in almost total darkness.

 

The corps de ballet was the good surprise of the evening: It has made huge improvements compared to recent years. Perfectly synchronized, technically excellent. The Dryade scene was beautifully performed.

 

Compared to the exciting, thrilling performances of the last RB revival, yesterday's performance was definitely bland, tasteless. Long time ago the POB was excellent in this ballet though (just have a look at the Guillem-Le Riche performances on Youtube to see how exciting thsi company used to be in DQ). They have just lost the ability to mix theatre and dance. I remain however confident that Mr Martinez, who is only starting his mandate, will manage to inject the passion and brio that the company now needs to resume with its brilliant reputation.

Edited April 17 by Paco

[Silver Capricorn]

I visited Don Q performance at Opéra Bastille in Paris on Friday, April 12. It was my second visit to this performance. After the technically brilliant Paul Marque and Sea Eun Park, this time I saw my dream cast, Hannah O'Neill and Hugo Marchand. And I was definitely not disappointed. In ballet, besides the technique, the acting aspect is also important to me, which both actors fulfilled perfectly. Hugo Marchand with his incredible charisma stole the show for himself, commanding all the attention from the moment he entered the stage. Hannah O'Neill danced technically perfectly, but the attention of the audience, at least those around me, was focused on Basilio. It is true, however, that I usually go to the first rows of the ground floor for the ballet, and from there I can see details that cannot be seen from a great distance. And especially in the Bastille, the distances from the stage are huge. I had two girlfriends with me who are not ballet connoisseurs at all, and the performance made a huge impression on them, they were absolutely thrilled. Otherwise, I already wrote here somewhere that Nureyev's version of Don Q is  for me much more engaging than Acosta's version. In particular, I prefer Nureyev's version of the scene in the gypsy camp and in the tavern where Kitri, Basilio, Espada and the two dancers dance instead of Acosta's weird stomping and jumping on the tables. In general, I am so excited about the performance that I bought another ticket and will fly to see this cast again, which I did not originally plan 😀

[SheilaC]

I went to a performance last Wednesday (17 April). I'm no fan of Nureyev's choreography but enjoyed most of the performance more than I expected.

 

The leads were not as well known as some of the other casts; Francesco Mura and Silvia Saint-Martin, who I've seen before (both were elevated to premie/re danseur/danseuse in 2020). They danced well enough but I wasn't convinced by their relationship; Saint-Martin was not just feisty, as one expects of Kitri, but so furiously annoyed with Basilio in Act 1 that it was hardly credible that she'd run away with him. The one dancer who really impressed me was Hohyun Kang as the Queen of the Dryads who had immaculate classical technique and wonderful placement and phrasing. She is still only a 'sujet', since last year, one of 20 female 'sujets', many of whom are also very talented. For years after Nureyev transformed the company the male dancers were more impressive than the women, but that has now changed.

 

It is some years since I'd seen the production and I was interested that Nureyev hadn't interpolated as much extra tricksy choreography for the men as he tended to do in his productions, and that the plot largely mirrored that of other versions. I agree with Silver Capricorn that the gypsy scene is much better than Acosta's (for either company) as there is a good pas de deux for Kitri and Basilio which adds depth to their relationship and has interesting choreography. Although I don't much like Acosta's version for the Royal, that company makes far more of the character parts, Don Quixote, Sancho Pansa, Gamache, Lorenzo the father, I think more due to the excellence of some of the Royal's character artists. But their acting adds a little depth to what can be quite a frothy ballet and adds extra tension to the plot.