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Like Water for Chocolate: Las Hermanas with cake


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We have a new full length Christopher Wheeldon ballet at Covent Garden based on the novel Like Water for Chocolate.  

Watching this ballet I was reminded of Balanchine's famous pronouncement on mothers in law as this ballet appears to have more in laws than you can shake a stick at.  LWFC has a lot of named roles and even those that read the book in advance weren't helped that much as I'm told Wheeldon has changed the story in places.   Frankly I found it confusing.  The story is basically about a matriarch controlling her daughters' love lives.  MacMillan took the same theme and told a very similar story far more succinctly.

I didn't wholly dislike LWFC, as there was a lot to enjoy and it has a terrific cast.  If any dancer deserves a ballet created on her it has to be Francesca Hayward in the leading role of Tita, but although she gave her all on stage, the ballet failed to engage me entirely, perhaps due to the episodic elements of the story and the odd preoccupation with food.  Three sisters and an overbearing mother with a past (the wonderful Laura Morera) are the central characters along with a cook who is actually a ghost plus lovers and admirers of the sisters, principally Marcellino Sambe as the long suffering Pedro, married to one sister but in love with another.   Highlights of the ballet for me were the romantic pas de deux of Tita with her American doctor (Matthew Ball) and the explosive entrance of a young revolutionary danced by Cesar Coralles that damn near steals the show though his sexual congress with one of the sisters while on horseback was the nadir of the evening.

Wonderful sets and a score with Mexican undertones did bring a sense of place to the work, maybe I'll like it better on a second viewing.  I'd sum it up as not quite my thing but worth going to see.  It will be interesting to see what the second cast makes of it.

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6 hours ago, Mashinka said:

We have a new full length Christopher Wheeldon ballet at Covent Garden based on the novel Like Water for Chocolate.  

Watching this ballet I was reminded of Balanchine's famous pronouncement on mothers in law as this ballet appears to have more in laws than you can shake a stick at.  LWFC has a lot of named roles and even those that read the book in advance weren't helped that much as I'm told Wheeldon has changed the story in places.   Frankly I found it confusing.  The story is basically about a matriarch controlling her daughters' love lives.  MacMillan took the same theme and told a very similar story far more succinctly.

Thanks for your observations. I found Wheeldon's Winter's Tale to be confusing for the same reasons (although I confess that I only saw it twice and never read Shakespeare's play). 

Sounds like it's a risk for ABT, but no doubt they've already invested heavily in the production and we'll see it in spring 2023.

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21 hours ago, Mashinka said:

I didn't wholly dislike LWFC, as there was a lot to enjoy and it has a terrific cast.

It will be interesting to see what the second cast makes of it.

14 hours ago, California said:

Sounds like it's a risk for ABT, but no doubt they've already invested heavily in the production and we'll see it in spring 2023.

The Royal Ballet is in the ascendant right now and there's a high degree of personality in the company. I can't say the same thing for ABT at the moment. Will ABT be able to field one stellar cast for a production like this - let alone three as at the Royal?

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ABT's modus operandi is that they use the team they have for casting, and hope for the best. 

Personally, I thought Wheeldon's Winter's Tale was  very engaging and interesting, so I'm looking forward to seeing this.  First I have to either read the book or at least see the film.

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Earlier this week I caught the second cast and they were every bit as good as the first cast.  The limited enjoyment I derived from the ballet on the first viewing I now realize is solely down to the dancers who seem to enrich the ballet with a vitality that the story line and choreography lack.  Both casts are to be commended for their commitment.  I'm told the third cast was equally good, but frankly twice is enough for me and should the ballet be revived I won't bother to book again.  To be fair some did like it, so it may have a shelf life, but it's definitely not for me.  I'll be interested to hear the thoughts of others when it gets to ABT.

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