Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Considered among ballet's classics, "Don Quixote" is loosely - very, very loosely - based on Miguel de Cervantes' epic novel of the same name. The original opened the day after Christmas in 1869, when choreographer Marius Petipa was squarely in the middle of a long career with Russia's Imperial Ballet. Petipa's most enduring ballets - "Sleeping Beauty," "The Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake" - would come later. "Don Quixote" shares a formula with those later works and has all the marks of a Petipa ballet: a flimsy story, a village scene, men quibbling over who gets to marry the pretty girl, a dream sequence and a wedding, which is primarily an excuse for a grand pas de deux."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Sheer brilliance dominates the Joffrey Ballet's enactment of "Don Quixote" at Chicago's Lyric Opera House. This classical ballet, choreographed by Yuri Possokhov, features the original French choreography by Marius Petitpa and the original music by Ludwig Minkus, dating from the Bolshoi Ballet of the late 19th century. Yet Possokhov has added his own touches, with a renewed focus on the title character Don Quixote (Miguel Angel Blanco) and his squire Sancho Panza (Derrick Agnoletti) through a series of dream sequences. The focus nonetheless remains on the romance between Kitri (Victoria Jaiani) and the Basilio, the barber (Dylan Gutierrez). Both the prima ballerina and the danseur perform brilliantly and trip the lights fantastic."
WTTW - Highly Recommended
"...Now, after a planned revival of the work had to be canceled during the COVID-19 shutdown, the Joffrey has returned "Don Quixote" to the stage. And its elaborate production of the ballet remains an ideal showcase for the company's superb dancers, who are notable for their impressive acting flair as well as for their superb technical prowess. And not only does this ballet ideally capture the mix of the comical, satirical, fantastical and romantic aspects of Cervantes' story, but with its beautiful sets, costumes, projections, puppets and aerial tricks it also is an ideal showcase for the Joffrey."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes is considered the most important and famous novel from Spain. It has been translated into the musical Man of La Mancha with the title character portrayed as having a madman's fantasy among other interpretations. The Joffrey Ballet brings all of the archetypes from Cervantes' novel to life. This beautiful performance shows why the Joffrey is enshrined with other great companies such as Alvin Ailey and the American Ballet Theatre. Choreographed by Yuri Possokhov, Don Quixote is a story of a hero's journey with matadors, beautiful women, and a knight who sees a local girl as the embodiment of the most beautiful woman he has ever imagined. He has named her Dulcinea, and believes that it is his quest to do the honorable thing and lead her on the path to true love."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...Since 1995 Chicago has had the distinct privilege and pride to host the premier internationally recognized Joffrey Ballet. For their closing 2021/2022 season, they are performing Don Quixote on the Lyric Stage. Just as we need a break from the harsh realities of our current troubled times, Yuri Possokhov's inventive, creative choreography invites us along to one of Miguel de Cervantes' 1605 novels', protagonist, Don Quixote's imaginary escapades."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...But the show never quite congeals as a unified, dramatic work of art, and close readers of the preceding paragraph may have already guessed at the reason. Thwarted lovers? Foppish aristocrats? Bullfighters? Street dancers? These are hardly the central elements of Cervantes' masterpiece, considered the first modern novel and arguably the most famous and influential work of fiction ever published."
