The Royal Ballet: All-Wheeldon Ballet to Broadway

Royal Ballet & Opera, London
May 16, 2025

Whole evenings of works by a single choreographer are decidedly uncommon in London, so a big welcome to this Christopher Wheeldon evening. Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works is not only a super demonstration of the range of his output, but the title encapsulates neatly his choreographic journey from classical ballet to musical theatre.

Although three of the four pieces are new to The Royal Ballet, Fool’s Paradise already being in the repertory, only The Two of Us is unknown British dance-goers. Of the others, Us was created for and performed by the BalletBoyz, while An American in Paris comes from the musical that previously had a long and successful run at London’s Dominion Theatre.

Made in 2007 for Wheeldon’s long defunct own company, Morphoses, Fool’s Paradise is not only the earliest of the programme’s four works, but the most deeply thought. The movement is fluid and rounded, with tableaux aplenty. Narciso Rodriguez’ flesh-coloured costumes add to the sense of sculptural images having come to life.

The bare stage and Penny Jacobus’ lighting focuses all the attention on the nine dancers who appear in beautifully constructed series of duets and trios. All were superb, although the pairings of Akane Takada and William Bracewell, and Liam Boswell and Viola Pantuso, stood tall, all four perfectly at one with Wheeldon’s movement language. Their pas de deux, and that for Marianela Nuñez and Lukas B. Brændsrød, show the dancers on equal terms, and in conversation in movement as much as anything else.

Fool’s Paradise was Wheeldon’s first collaboration with composer Joby Talbot. Although his music for the ballet is unusually unmemorable, it did sow the seeds for many successful future collaborations.

The middle part of the evening comprises two very different duets, both performed in front of the now onstage orchestra.

The Two of Us was originally choreographed by Wheeldon for the 2020 Fall for Dance festival at New York’s City Center, in the event presented virtually thanks to the Covid pandemic. It’s live stage premiere came in 2022.

Danced to four Joni Mitchell songs, the premise is simple. A couple. Together. But then, for reasons not entirely clear, they separate, both dancing solos, before reconnecting for a while, before what feels like an inevitable ending.

As the couple, Lauren Cuthbertson, who gets the best choreography, and Calvin Richardson, were outstanding. In orange pyjamas, Cuthbertson a little dreamy, about perhaps what could have been, or was; Richardson, in grey, stronger. It’s a little bit sentimental, a little bit heartbreaking, but also heartwarming. And that’s despite it feeling a little lost on the big Royal Opera House stage. I can’t help feeling it needed to be more intimate.

The Two of Us also needs Joni Mitchell’s own voice. Orchestrating the four songs was not a good idea. The lyrics that carry so much meaning were too often unclear. Singer Julia Fordham not only lacks Mitchell’s deep, earthy voice, but was too often drowned out by the orchestra. It especially felt an issue during the closing ‘Both Sides Now,’ most familiar through Judy Collins’ version. But go listen to Mitchell. It’s incredibly moving and fits the choreography perfectly. As much as I like to see and hear live music, I can’t help feeling it, and the whole ballet, would have been way better performed to original recordings.

Matthew Ball and Joseph Sissens shone in Us, a duet all about male sensitivity, strength and partnership, in which the two men not only remain very close, but are almost always in contact. Togetherness, support, pulling apart, it’s all there in a totally engaging ten minutes.

Finally, to not so much a splash of colour but an electric shock of brightness. Wheeldon’s adaptation of his dream ‘ballet-within-a-ballet’ and ‘By the Seine’ duet for Jerry and Lise from his An American in Paris is 25 minutes of brilliant energy and perpetual movement. Add in George Gershwin’s wonderful melodies, Bob Crowley’s outsize colour-block geometric designs and Natasha Katz’s vibrant lighting, and you have a real treat. It’s a blast and great fun.

Wheeldon’s choreography is simultaneously joyous, a pulsing mix of jazz, ballet and musical theatre that very much captures the 1950s Hollywood musical tone. Francesca Hayward bubbled as Lise, looking the spitting image of Leanne Benjamin in her bob-wig, but this was very much Cesar Corrales’ stage.

Corrales’ interpretation may owe more to John Travolta and Danny Zuco from Grease than Jerry Mulligan, but when he makes the ballet this much fun, who cares? You just couldn’t help but be swept along with his enthusiasm. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one sat there wondering if he could sing too, and if he can, what doors may open in the future.

The ensemble were terrific too, as slick as slick can be. A super end to a super evening.

Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works continues at The Royal Ballet and Opera to May 27, 2025.