The Joffrey’s ‘Quixote’ is a trip to the glory days

With “Don Quixote,” the Joffrey Ballet
recalls the glory days of Robert Joffrey, serving up a fresh new take
on a classic, one tailored to suit the company’s size but second to none
in rapid-fire entertainment and nonstop dance.

Yuri Possokhov,
the onetime Bolshoi Ballet dancer who is now resident choreographer
with the San Francisco Ballet, delivers plenty of trademark fireworks,
but stages the story with something of the comic surety and jet
propulsion of John Cranko, a Joffrey favorite. “Don Q” has always been
the oddest of artistic ducks, resembling a lighthearted MGM musical more
than Cervantes’ landmark novel. Don Quixote himself and sidekick Sancho
Panza are comic figures, hardly visible in some productions. While
trimming the ballet to two acts, Possokhov heightens their roles and
impact. They’re still funny, but more central and sympathetic.

Just as importantly, the
production is a marvel of various design contributions, notably Wendall
Harrington’s understated but picture-perfect projections, Von Orthal
Puppets’ delightful, Kermit Love-like horse contraption and the dazzling
flight routine lifting Don Quixote into the arms of a windmill. Thanks
to Harrington and her smoky, forest setting, the Dryads scene was more
atmospheric and effective than usual.

But ultimately “Don
Quixote” is dancing, and this one doesn’t let up, relishing the
tambourine zeal and Spanish flavor of Ludwig Minkus’ score. Wednesday’s
opening cast sizzled. Victoria Jaiani is magnificent as Kitri,
sparkling, kittenish and technically on fire. Oh, some hops on point
ended abruptly in Act I, and the merciless balances demanded in Act II
challenged her a bit, as they would most dancers. But her subsequent
whipping turns seemed a new career high in firepower, and she nails
Kitri as a dancer not just surviving her chores but enjoying every
minute of them.

Cheers all around for charismatic Carlos
Quenedit. Catch him if you can, too boyish, maybe, to convey all of
Basilio’s rakish deviltry, but a vibrant, technically exhilarating
dancer.

Fabrice Calmels brings stature and poignancy to Don
Quixote; Derrick Agnoletti channels Curly from the Three Stooges as a
wonderfully slapstick Sancho; and Matthew Adamczyk is one of the
funniest Restoration fops ever, in pink, no less.