Don Quixote returns to the Cultural Center

STAGED and restaged 14 times through the years — most recently seven years ago — Ballet Philippines (BP) is once again performing the iconic Don Quixote to end its latest season.

Performances are scheduled on Feb. 9 to 18 at Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Main Theater.

“It has fiesta, it is comedy, it is love. You do not have to concentrate that hard to understand the story,” said Adam Sage, Don Quixote’s regisseur (another term for director or stager), explaining its popularity.

BP’s current associate artistic director and ballet master, Mr. Sage was only 19 when he became the company’s first foreign member (1981-1983). He played Don Quixote when BP first performed the full-length show in 1981 — before that, in 1973, 1974, 1978, and 1979, the company had staged excerpts of the ballet. BP subsequently staged the full-length version in 1984, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2006, and 2011.

“This is a full circle. It is coming home,” said Mr. Sage.

While he sometimes gets flashbacks whenever the current cast rehearses, he said: “the dancers themselves make this version different” despite the many restagings of this classic hit.

Based on Miguel de Cervantes’ tale, the ballet follows Don Quixote, the gentleman from La Mancha, as he journeys to Barcelona where he meets Kitri, whom he thinks as his ladylove, Dulcinea. But Kitri loves Basilio, a poor barber whom her father disapproves of. Mayhem follows soon when Don Quixote unwittingly helps the lovers have their happy ending.

Don Quixote is everybody’s story: boy meets girl, falls in love with her, but the girl’s father dislike him, said Mr. Sage. It’s really a test of persistence and the power of love.

But unlike the original book, the ballet does not end in tragedy. “As much as possible, there is no death in ballet,” said Mr. Sage, because ballet is wired to have happy endings.

International guest artist Joseph Gatti will perform as Basilio the barber on special gala nights (Feb. 9 and 10) which will feature music by a live orchestra. A former principal dancer at the Cincinnati Ballet and Corella Ballet, Mr. Gatti will perform with BP guest artist Candice Adea as Kitri during the galas.

Also in the cast are guest artists Jojo Mamangun (Don Quixote) and Ronelson Yadao (Espada), BP dancers Jemima Reyes and Monica Gana (alternating as Kitri), Denise Parungao and Katrene San Miguel (Mercedes), and Victor Maguad and Ian Ocampo (as Basilio).

Tickets are available through TicketWorld (www.ticketworld.com.ph). — Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman