About the Ballet

North American Premiere!

Following the stunning international success of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the renowned British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon returns with a ballet every bit as lavishly imagined, boldly expressed and consummately entertaining as the earlier work. Turning again to a classic work of English literature for inspiration, Mr. Wheeldon has adapted The Winter’s Tale, Shakespeare’s late romance that combines elements of fairy-tale, comedy, tragedy and fantasy, all of which the ballet embraces with the same inventive staging, astute characterization and precise emotional register for which the choreographer is so admired.

Working again with Joby Talbot and Bob Crowley, who supplied respectively the music and set and costumes for Alice, Mr. Wheeldon has created a rich and moving correlative in dance to the original play, a complex and subtle, but always engaging and deeply touching meditation on love, jealousy, the nature of family and the mysteries of art itself.

“★★★★★/5 In embracing the king-sized emotions of The Winter’s Tale, Christopher Wheeldon has produced the most heartfelt and resonant full-length ballet seen in decades… his greatest triumph.”
The Times, London

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Reviews

“★★★★/4 An operatically epic Shakespearean ballet… a spectacular work that will stand the test of time….packed with inventive steps and spectacular scenic effects” — The Toronto Star

“Christopher Wheeldon’s new three-act version of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale is a triumph. It is contemporary and classical, traditional and modern, narrative and abstract. It feels like something entirely new.” —The Telegraph, London
 
“Christopher Wheeldon rises to the challenge of translating Shakespeare into dance, creating one of most fully achieved story ballets to be staged at Covent Garden in years.” —The Guardian, London
 
“Like the play, the ballet has taken us through a large arc of human experience.” —The New York Times

“The composer Joby Talbot produces a beautiful score bubbling with exotic percussive spices, dancey rhythms, dramatic flourishes and full blooded melodies under the fabulous David Briskin conducting.” —The Times, London