2023-06-26 07:00:00
Cassandra Trenary and Herman Cornejo during the opening night performance of “Like Water for Chocolate” (Marty Sohl, American Ballet Theater via AP)
How do you choreograph a mass food poisoning scene? A young woman caught in an erotic frenzy? A couple whose passion is so intense, they literally burst into flames? These were just some of the challenges that awaited choreographer Christopher Wheeldon—for decades, one of the most creative minds in ballet and lately on Broadway—as he adapted the wildly popular 1989 novel Like Water for Chocolate. The ballet Like Water for Chocolate will have its premiere in New York this week with the American Ballet Theater (ABT) company.
Wheeldon is no stranger to the challenges of storytelling, whether in ballet, where he adapted Shakespeare’s complex The Winter’s Tale, or in the theater, where he has won two Tonys, most recently for the choreography of MJ: The Musical, about Michael Jackson. But Laura Esquivel’s novel about delicacies, magic, lust and forbidden passion, set in Mexico at the beginning of the 20th century and which was adapted to film with great success, was a very different challenge: how to convey a complex, strong narrative, with many characters, which develops over two decades, without words?
Wheeldon laughs, rejects the word “strong”, prefers “juicy”, or better, “epic”. “It’s epic and intimate at the same time, you know,” he said in a recent interview. It’s about a family, but the magnitude of the emotions in this family, and of course, the time over which the story is told… and you add magical realism and you have an epic story. But he adds that “my goal is always to find stories that are dynamic and exciting and theatrical and not worry too much about the practicalities… Can we do it? Can we take the audience on a journey where they will come away feeling like they have connected with these characters and been transported to a different world?”
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The production came to the Metropolitan Opera House to kick off the ABT’s summer season after stints at the Royal Ballet of London, its co-producer, and at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. It can be said that ABT has made a big bet with this production, and not only when the character gallops away on horseback in the aforementioned erotic frenzy. The company hopes to attract fans of the book or movie who may not be ballet regulars.
The adaptation of Laura Esquivel’s novel, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, is presented at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (Photo, Marty Sohl, American Ballet Theater via AP)
He presents it for two weeks, twice as long as he gives the beloved Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet. But while almost everyone knows the story of Juliet and her Romeo, and also the basics about those swans, audiences who haven’t read Esquivel’s novel, and perhaps even those who have, may need a primer. Hence the very detailed program notes. Wheeldon says he’s seen audience members “furiously reading their shows at intermission,” which he says is a good thing.
“It’s okay to need a synopsis,” he says. “I know it’s widely said that if you’re doing a narrative ballet, it should be clear and you shouldn’t need your notes. That’s true to a certain extent. There should be enough for the audience to latch on to and be able to understand the relationships, but not necessarily pick up on all the nuances. “This is a complex (story) and that is what makes it dynamic and exciting.”
Esquivel’s novel, which has been translated into more than 30 languages, centers on Tita, daughter of the strict Mama Elena and unfortunate victim of a family tradition according to which the youngest daughter can never marry, but must take care of her mother. to death. This dooms the great love of her life, Pedro, who marries Tita’s sister just to be close to her. Tita pours her pain into her cooking, which produces unexpected magical results.
The passion at certain moments is steamy for a ballet, and ABT’s website includes the equivalent of a PG-13 movie warning (warning parents that it may be inappropriate for children under 13). The opening night cast stars Cassandra Trenary and Herman Cornejo, who also kicked off the season in Costa Mesa. The couple has continued rehearsing and perfecting in New York, along with the rest of the company.
Christopher Wheeldon (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, archivo)
At a recent weekday rehearsal at the ABT studios the two were doing intricate pas de deux, or duets, navigating tricky climbs, smoothing out trouble spots, figuring out the rhythm. They launched into gravity-defying poses, then smiled and high-fived each other when a moment worked well. It was a striking example of how dancers continue to develop their roles even as they perform them.
“We just deepen it every time we come back to it,” said Trenary, a fast-rising ABT star who became a principal dancer in 2020. “The difference could be our mood that day, or our experiences, or just how “Life has changed.” Added Cornejo, the handsome Argentinian who has been a principal dancer for 20 years: “We are finding more layers. Every day is something different.” And both dancers noted that Wheeldon had given them an effective mental map to navigate the rich history.
As for original music, composer Joby Talbot focused on instruments strongly associated with Mexico, in addition to finding inspiration in genres such as danzón, joropo, cumbia and huapango. At Wheeldon’s suggestion, Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra came on board as a musical advisor, beginning her collaboration in London last year. De la Parra will direct in New York in the first four performances of the ballet. Talbot added particular instruments associated with each of the main characters: the guitar for Pedro, the ocarina for Tita, the wooden flute for the cook Nacha, and bells for Mama Elena.
This image provided by American Ballet Theater shows Herman Cornejo and Cassandra Trenary during the opening night performance of “Like Water for Chocolate (Marty Sohl, American Ballet Theater via AP)
Wheeldon is a busy man these days. Four days after taking the stage in Costa Mesa to take a bow with his dancers, he was on MJ’s Broadway stage, congratulating outgoing star Myles Frost. That show begins a national tour in August and will move to London next March.
The choreographer has just turned 50, but he had barely left adolescence when, in the early 90s, he began his love story with Como agua para chocolate. He had just moved to New York from his native Britain to dance with the New York City Ballet. On what he calls “a nostalgic Sunday afternoon,” he saw the film at a theater near Lincoln Center and was enchanted.
Years later, Esquivel was approached when an opportunity arose at the Royal Ballet, where he serves as artistic associate, to make a new narrative ballet. The author said: “Let’s talk.” Wheeldon traveled to Mexico to meet her, along with set designer Bob Crowley and Talbot.
Wheeldon says his recent work between Broadway and dance has benefited him in both ways. “As I learn to delve deeper into character development and the emotional highs and lows of scenes, I bring that into my work with the dancers,” he said. “Certainly, with Like Water for Chocolate we approached rehearsals as both actors and dancers, and I know that the ABT dancers really enjoyed that process.”
Wheeldon hopes to help expand audiences for dance at a time when theaters are still struggling to reach pre-pandemic levels. “Maybe someone can come and see MJ: The Musical and love it and then see that I’ve done a ballet and say, ‘Okay, I’m not a ballet fan, but maybe I’ll go see it,’” she says. “It’s harder to get people away from their computers and their phones and get people in the seats (these days),” she notes. “So if I can help encourage people to come, that’s exciting and it certainly makes me feel like I have a purpose.”
Source: AP
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