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Chicago Tribune
6 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Chicago's Joffrey Ballet pirouettes to stability and growth
Arts organizations often have money problems and the cuts flowing from President Donald Trump's administration have only made them more acute. Dance companies typically struggle more than most. But in Chicago, there's a ballet company with an impressive record not just of creative success but financial stability. Consider. Like many ballet companies, the 70-year-old Joffrey makes its annual bones on 'The Nutcracker.' Last year, Christopher Wheeldon's adaptation, set during Chicago's 1893 World's Fair, brought in more than $7 million in ticket sales and played to more than 50,000 people. Since its debut in 2016, that annual production alone has grossed more than $30 million. This spring, the exceptionally well-managed Joffrey risked more than $3 million on a new Wheeldon production of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.' It paid off. It grossed $2.69 million in ticket sales just on this first go-around. 30,000 people bought tickets over the course of the 14-performance run. Most performances sold out; no mean feat for a venue with 3,520 seats. All of that goes someway toward explaining why the Joffrey, which is run by artistic director Ashley Wheater and President and CEO Greg Cameron, has an annual operating budget of about $29 million and employs about 300 full- and part-time people in Chicago, does not carry a deficit, or struggle with debt. Over the past 10 years, with the help of its board of directors, it has built up a total endowment of $32 million. Ten years ago it did not have any endowment at all. There's another factor too: smart consolidation, a rarity in the arts. On Wednesday, the ballet company told us it was extending its lease at the Lyric Opera House for seven more years through 2034, continuing an agreement that began in 2020 when Joffrey made the smart decision to move its main performance venue from the Auditorium Theatre. This has been a win-win situation for both the Lyric and the Joffrey, creating a dynamic combination operating within a historic building that's a pivotal cultural anchor on the western edge of Chicago's Loop. Opera audiences are not as large as they once were, so runs are not as long and thus the Lyric had empty weeks, especially during the holiday period between the fall and spring opera seasons. Joffrey got the benefit of a massive stage, a grand auditorium with a huge capacity and an aesthetically pleasing environment. The combination of ballet and opera in the same building is common in Europe (it occurs with the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet in London, among many others) but less so in the United States. Yet it makes perfect sense, not least because there is a big overlap between ballet and opera audiences. Not only can each company market to the other, they can share the heavy costs of live production, virtually year-round. Tough as they have been for most peers, the last five years have been phenomenally successful for the Joffrey. This Chicago company is a balletic model for the nation.
The Herald Scotland
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Flying the flag for the future of dance
Read More: And wonderful twice over: Constance Devernay-Laurence in Christopher Wheeldon's I Married Myself - dynamically morphed by her from TV to stage - and in a sassy, sparky extract from Elite Syncopations where her crisp, witty style shone in lively partnership with Kevin Poeung and Tyrone Singleton. Elsewhere, the Ballet Nights mantra of bringing new works and new names into a framework that encompasses classical and contemporary choreography delivered a programme crammed with wide-ranging audience appeal. Stephen McRae's solo Czardas - a tremendous whirlwind of tap-dancing that transformed the folklorique divertissement. BLACBRIK - a male duo whose Death of the Bachelors was a sinuous slink of bodies totally in the groove. Ekleido in Splice - with Hannah Ekholm and Faye Stoeser melding contemporary moves and club/battle styles into sudden hybrid forms. Solos from Caspar Lench and Andrew Cummings, along with an ensemble piece from the Graduating Year (BA Modern Ballet Programme) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland - they all deserve praise for flying a promising flag for the future of dance. Curated and compered by Jamiel Devernay- Laurence, this was a triumph for all involved - here's hoping Ballet Nights adds Glasgow to its touring schedules.
New York Times
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Review: Jealousy Sets a Dance in Motion at American Ballet Theater
American Ballet Theater is always here to remind us that we are living in a man's world. From 'Swan Lake' to 'Giselle,' two full-length productions presented during its current summer season, men lie, cheat and are forgiven in the name of true love. They get away with everything. It's exhausting. Christopher Wheeldon's 'The Winter's Tale,' a company premiere based on the Shakespeare play that opened this week, involves much of that bad behavior and, unfortunately, quite a bit more. In Act 1, Hermione, Queen of Sicilia, is accused of cheating and is brutalized by her husband, King Leontes, in such an excessively drawn out way that your skin doesn't so much crawl as scream. But though much in this ballet is long-winded — even in its most robust section, the dance-filled Act 2 — 'The Winter's Tale' does have something that Ballet Theater needs: a number of substantial leading parts. For the principals at this company, there are never enough roles to go around. In the work, originally a co-production between the Royal Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada from 2014, six main characters explore themes of love, jealousy and forgiveness. Set to a commissioned score by Joby Talbot with designs by Bob Crowley, it showcases an all-too brief visual feat, an effect with silks by Basil Twist, the brilliant puppeteer. In the play, there is a well-known stage direction for Antigonus, an adviser to Leontes, after the king tells him to take away his baby Perdita: 'Exit, pursued by a bear.' Twist's bear appears in a swirl of rushing fabric. It's both ravishing and frightening as its face, imprinted on the silk, seems to be caught in a wave — and just as impressive a sight as it was in 2016, when the National Ballet of Canada presented the dance in New York. But in this Ballet Theater production, running through Saturday with cast changes all week, certain weaknesses remain as the dancers move through Talbot's cinematic, sugary score, which grows increasingly thin with each scene. The choreography can seem cinematic, too, and with that, cartoonishly repetitive. The plot, through the lens of ballet, is convoluted, but Wheeldon's introduction of its events, at least in the beginning, is clear enough. Leontes (Aran Bell) and Hermione (Devon Teuscher, who performs with commendable subtlety) have a son. Leontes presents her with an emerald necklace. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Chicago Tribune
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: ‘Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' is Joffrey Ballet's wacky and wonderful season closer
The Joffrey Ballet's season rarely extends this far into summer, but it's safe to say 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was worth the wait. This beast of a ballet by the Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon had its North American premiere at the Lyric Opera House on Thursday. If, like for me, Lewis Carroll's 1865 fairy tale about a girl who stumbles into Wonderland is a core memory, all those beloved characters are there, with a splendidly cogent (and at times delightfully grotesque) libretto. It's more Tim Burton than Disney, but you'll recognize moments no matter your preferred version (including my personal favorite, the 1985 TV movie musical starring Jayne Meadows and Carol Channing). Following a drowse-inducing garden party at her Victorian Oxford estate, Alice (magnificently danced Thursday by Amanda Assucena) awakens to find an anxiously tardy White Rabbit (Stefan Gonçalvez). She of course must follow him, kicking off a series of Don Quixote-style adventures with wild, wacky and terrifying characters. Letting her curiosity guide her, she encounters a tea party hosted by a tap-dancing Mad Hatter (Edson Barbosa) and a slithering Cheshire Cat (whose dismantlement is made possible by a corps of dancer-puppeteers). Indeed, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' will resonate strongly with those who adore 'Alice' — so much so that Joffrey extended the production to three weekends before it opened. In any case, exploiting its usefulness as a ballet was far overdue. There is much within Wheeldon's zany world for everyone to admire. Very small children may not appreciate some scarier moments, most notably a scene at the Duchess' house, in which viewers quite literally see how the sausage gets made. The brutish Duchess (Dylan Gutierrez) and her ax-wielding cook (Lucia Connolly) contribute some of the night's most, um, salient imagery. The pair of them (along with henchmen Valentino Moneglia Zamora, Hyuma Kiyosawa and Xavier Núñez) are terrifically terrifying. 'Alice's' third and final act is devoted almost wholly to the search for who stole the Queen of Hearts' tart. It begins with a game of croquet, played with bendy flamingoes on pointe as the mallets, striking adorable summersaulting hedgehogs. This not-so-regal realm, ruled by prima ballerina Victoria Jaiani as supreme leader, embarks on a tribunal when it's uncovered that the Knave of Hearts — a two-eyed Jack danced by the princely Alberto Velazquez — is most likely the offender and about to lose his head. Hilarity ensues. As hard as it will be to peel your eyes from Jaiani, every once in a while, be sure to glimpse her ridiculous King (marking David Gombert's glorious return to the Joffrey stage 15 years after retirement). There are tender moments, too, particularly in a satisfyingly sweet duet for Assucena and Velazquez as Alice tries to accept the blame in tart-gate. She eventually prevails, if only by waking up back in Oxford. If there's a lesson to be learned from 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,' it might be that taking the blame for your boyfriend's impropriety could turn out poorly. That, and vindictive, power-hungry leaders whose kingdoms are built on a literal house of cards are not likely to succeed. Cleverly, 'Alice' borrows hallmarks from the ballets of Carroll's time, winking at canonical works like 'The Nutcracker,' 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Cinderella.' There's a waltz of flowers; a for our protagonist and her scrappy love interest; a hilariously satirized 'Rose Adagio' for the Queen of Hearts and four suitors (in this case, hearts and clubs); and a shirtless, hookah-smoking sultan-turned-Caterpillar (Jonathan Dole) performing a seductive take on 'the worm' with a quartet of scantily clad temple women. I'm pretty sure we didn't need that last one when 'Alice' premiered in London in 2011, and I'm certain we don't need it in 2025 — though I'll take the cameo of academy kids as sparkly pointe-shoed caterpillar legs all day, every day, plus Sunday. To be clear, such tongue-and-cheek references now to 19th century ballet are generally welcome and especially fun for those who see the parallels — perhaps even more so to those familiar with Wheeldon's catalog, too, which includes Joffrey's nearly decade-old 'Nutcracker.' In some instances, that ballet and this one parrot one another; Wheeldon went so far as to use some of the exact same ideas in his 'Nutcracker's' transformation and snow scenes, further tugging the plot parallels to these two coming-of-age stories set in magical fairy lands that may or may not have all been a dream. But 'Alice's' superpowers, all due respect to 'The Nutcracker,' are its magnificently evocative original score (by Joby Talbot) and Wheeldon's pinpointed attention to detail in every character, masterfully embraced by the Joffrey's excellent dancers, whose full-throttled performances and comedic prowess grab you and hold on for the entirety of this (very, very long) spectacle. Another thing: Wheeldon's imagination could only run this wild in a superbly-crafted Wonderland, made possible through the ingenuity of scenic and costume designer Bob Crowley, lighting designer Natasha Katz, projectionists Jon Driscoll and Gemma Carrington and puppeteer Toby Olié — seamlessly executed by a Joffrey team that, frankly, has never attempted something this big. 'Alice' was originally created for London's Royal Ballet, a company of 100 dancers and nearly 10 times Joffrey's budget. Until Thursday, it had not been performed this side of the Atlantic. Pulling it off was going to be a challenge. But they did. And Wonderland turned out to be a risk that will pay off in Joffrey Ballet presents 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' (4 stars) When: Through June 22 Where: Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes with 2 intermissions Tickets: $45-$233 at 312-386-8905 and
Spectator
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Christopher Wheeldon's real gifts lie in abstract dance
Christopher Wheeldon must be one of the most steadily productive and widely popular figures in today's dance world, but I'm yet to be persuaded that he has much gift for narrative. His adaptation of the novel Like Water for Chocolate was a hopeless muddle; his response to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is mere vaudeville; and I'm praying to St Jude that nobody is planning to import his dramatisation of Oscar Wilde's downfall, premièred in Australia last year. But as the elegant craftsman, and sometimes the inspired artist, of more abstract dance, he is without doubt a great talent. The Royal Ballet's programme of four of his shorter pieces showcases his strengths. Let's get the misfire out of the way first – The Two of Us is set to four Joni Mitchell standards, prissily sung live on stage by Julia Fordham (to do her justice, she was struggling against a faulty sound system). Lauren Cuthbertson and Calvin Richardson are wasted as they mooch around in shimmering pyjamas without ever establishing any compelling counterpoint to the implications of the lyrics or the mood of the music: they might as well be extemporising, and there's just not enough interest in the movement they come up with to hold one's interest. But everything else on offer gives much pleasure. Fool's Paradise, first seen at Covent Garden in 2012, is richly melancholy – perhaps subliminally a meditation on how relationships between three people inexorably gravitate into two, but more obviously a beautiful example of Wheeldon's neoclassicism. His aesthetic has been influenced by his long sojourn in America and his choreographic style reflects that of New York City Ballet luminaries such as Jerome Robbins and Justin Peck as much as it does that of his Royal Ballet precursors Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan: sleekly athletic, clean in line, devoid of jerks and twerks, milk and honey for dancers with fluent classical technique.
