Two stars rise to the occasion in ‘Don Quixote.’
Mónica Gómez stepped onto the Sarofim Hall stage Friday at Hobby Center with the presence of a ballerina who owned the place.
Very quickly, she did. Gomez’s movements were richly expressive, vivacious, with every step impeccably sharp and light, every move technically perfect, her balance spot-on, — so rarin’ to go, she set a fast pace for the orchestra. And that was just Act 1 of “Don Quixote.” During the fireworks of Act III’s grand pas de deux, Gomez turned on an arsenal of dazzling pique turns and fouettes.
The rising soloist wasn’t the night’s only breakout star. Principal dancer Charles-Louis Yoshiyama met Gómez’s feisty confidence with his own commanding, elegant technique and high-voltage charisma. He has a keen sense of ballon (that quality of hanging in the air during leaps) and style, and his comic acting was effortlessly natural.
They looked born to dance the roles of Kitri and Basilio.
Ben Stevenson had been the artistic director of Houston Ballet for nearly 20 years when he created his version of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic tale to showcase the bravura skills of Lauren Anderson and a budding Carlos Acosta in 1995. That premiere became a high marker of company history, launching Anderson and Acosta as international stars.
“Don Quixote” is now one of the last remaining works by Stevenson in Houston Ballet’s repertoire, and it has been in storage 12 years. Dancers in general have evolved. They can eat up technical pyrotechnics that challenged previous generations as if they’re just having a super-fun day at the office.
So it seemed with Friday’s entire cast, who stoked Stevenson’s swirling choreography and rapid-fire footwork, relishing every note of Leon Minkus’ lively score, which Ermanno Florio and the Houston Ballet Orchestra rendered with a rousing, buoyant spirit.
Hayden Stark flew jubilantly through the high-leaping, fleetfooted role of Amor Man, a character who recalls the Bluebird of “The Sleeping Beauty.” Vivacious Jessica Collado and handsome Brian Waldrep, as the Street Dancer and the bullfighter Espada, helped to ground all the action as a kind of glue between the colorful townsfolk, mischievous street urchins, brooding gypsies and bumbling aristocrats who fill the stage.
Stevenson’s doddering, hallucinating Don Quixote could become a caricature, but Linnar Looris found his pathos and strength. Christopher Gray was lovable and not too dumbeddown as his hapless servant Sancho Panza. Likewise, Oliver Halkowich deftly balanced silliness and restraint as the foppish nobleman Gamache, who wants to marry Kitri.
Judanna Lynn’s gorgeous costumes, awash with tiered layers, sparkle and velvet, are so vivid they’re almost characters of their own. Tom Boyd’s original set designs, in particular the forest of Act 2, look dated and clunky compared to more recent productions created with better technology.
Stevenson’s choreography, unabashedly traditional, holds up surprisingly well. Not simple in its execution, but devoid of the need to establish character motives that drives some of the company’s recent big productions, it proves that sometimes, all ballet needs to do is entertain us.
The Hobby Center run was abbreviated, but “Don Quixote” will return to Miller Outdoor Theatre in May.