- Choreography: Sir Frederick Ashton
- Music: Felix Mendelssohn
October 19, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30
Shakespeare’s characters come to life in this magical and hilarious ballet. With a full company of fairies, mortals, and a dancing donkey, this is perfect family entertainment.
The Dream is a one hour Victorian era rendering of the Shakespeare tale, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Set to an exciting score by Felix Mendelssohn, The Dream tells the story of a quarrel between Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of Fairyland, the mischief of their sprite Puck, and the mortals who wander into the forest.
Sir Frederick Ashton is considered one of the two leading 20th century storytellers in ballet. Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino were fascinated by Ashton’s work and from the late 1960s to present day The Joffrey Ballet has amassed the largest repertoire of his ballets in America and one of the largest outside of England.
In 1964, Sir Frederick Ashton created his comic masterpiece, The Dream, for two stars from The Royal Ballet: Antoinette Sibley and Sir Anthony Dowell. In 1973, The Joffrey Ballet became the first company outside of The Royal Ballet to perform it and Sir Anthony himself danced his role with us that season. The ballet was a turning point for The Joffrey as it was the most grand scale “classical” work the company had done to date. The Dream became not only an audience favorite, but a major stepping stone in the development of our repertoire and the style of the full length story ballets we present as part of Robert Joffrey’s and Gerald Arpino’s unique vision. For this revival of The Dream, we are fortunate to have Sir Anthony himself coach our dancers.
In opening this 50th Anniversary Season with The Dream, we also pay special tribute to Robert Joffrey. The last time The Joffrey Ballet performed this work was in Chicago in 1988, on the day of Robert Joffrey’s passing.
All programming is subject to change.
Live music performed by The Chicago Sinfonietta.
