CHICAGO—“Don Quixote” was scheduled for February 2022 but was put on hold because of COVID. Now, the Joffrey Ballet has mounted it on the Lyric Opera stage, going all out to make up for the delay. The exhilarating presentation was worth the wait.
While there is no stinting on the production values of the show, and the athletic dancers are in top form, its spectacle doesn’t drown out the meaning and the philosophy of the recent, uplifting adaptations.
Victoria Jaiani as Kitri and Joffrey Ensemble in “Don Quixote.” (Cheryl Mann)
Heroic Vision and Imagination
Indeed, the novel “Don Quixote” (1605) has had a profound impact on the world to this day:  There’s the Broadway musical and movie of “The Man of La Mancha,” and, of course, there’s the ballet….