Originally choreographed and set on the Royal Ballet in April 2014, Christopher Wheeldon brings his vision of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” to life with the American Ballet Theatre in five performances from April 3 through 6 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
The story follows two kings — Leontes of Sicilia and Polixenes of Bohemia — who were friends as children and reunited in adulthood. Leontes marries a woman named Hermione. The two have a son named Mamillius and are expecting a daughter when Leontes finds out that Polixenes has been having an affair with Hermione.
Opening night featured Isaac Hernández as Leontes, dressed in stunning green, with poignant emotion pouring out of his every pained expression and desperate line. Hernández slinked around marble statues, seemingly going mad as he witnessed his wife and old friend embracing. Slicked in sweat, each time he turned, droplets flew through the air around him.
So many ballets feature female madness, like the famous scene from the French ballet “Giselle,” where the titular character goes mad and dies of grief. Often these women pull at their heart, their hair and their clothes, running around and falling down again as others watch in horror or fear. Hernández embodies that classic madness in his intense jealousy.
The set pieces for this act, designed by Bob Crowley, are sharp and cold, resembling concrete. Soldiers line the staircase of Leontes’ home as the drama of the act begins to peak. Hee Seo took on the role of Hermione, and her desperation to prove her innocence to her husband is apparent in the way she clings to Leontes. Even as he tries to separate from her, she moves with him, unwilling to let go. Leontes feels betrayed and cannot be convinced that Hermione is innocent. He has her arrested for adultery, and their son Mamillius (Max Tenenbaum) falls ill and, soon after, dies.
After the birth of his daughter, Leontes sends her away to be abandoned by a steward, Antigonus (Roman Zhurbin). When the ship crashes and Antigonus is killed by a wild bear, the baby is miraculously found by a shepherd with an emerald necklace tucked into her bassinet. The storm was dramatized by Natasha Katz’s lighting design, Daniel Brodie’s projection design and Basil Twist’s silk effects. The billowing fabric curtains replicated the turbulent waters that crashed the boat, and projections of the ship and the bear made going to the ballet momentarily feel like going to the cinema.
The second act opens with a starkly different scene. The audience let out audible gasps as the curtain rose to a vividly green tree structure, seemingly covered in moss and draped with golden medallions. Set 16 years later, the audience is quickly introduced to Perdita (Catherine Hurlin), the daughter Leontes sent away when he was convinced she was another man’s child. Everything is much brighter here with some of the corps de ballet dressed in various pastel-colored dresses dotted with flowers and adorned with white fringy corsets. Others wear mid-length skirts, long sleeves and vests. The people of Bohemia bounce around, floating across the stage with unexpected lifts and giddy attitudes.
There is cause for celebration as Perdita is newly engaged to Florizel (Carlos Gonzalez). Their deep love for one another is demonstrated through Wheeldon’s mesmerizing choreography as their bodies swirl around one another with light and airy movement. It is clear their relationship is vastly different from Leontes and Hermione’s, and Hurlin steals the second act with gorgeous lines and a deeply serene stage presence.
The second act shifts once it is revealed that Florizel is actually Polixenes’ (Cory Stearns) son. Now that the two families must merge, the third act culminates in a joyous reunion that shows the triumph of love over everything else.
The contrast between Leontes’ regimented household and the whimsical, dreamlike Bohemia is jarring, yet unique and refreshing. American Ballet Theatre’s run of “The Winter’s Tale” was nothing short of perfection and this ballet is likely to solidify itself as one of the classics in years to come.
Lillian Dunn is the 2024-2025 Arts & Entertainment Editor. She can be reached at lbdunn@uci.edu.
Edited by Alaina Retodo and Jaheem Conley.