Title: Ludwig Minkus: Don Quixote
Released: 2013
Genre: ballet
choreographer: Carlos Acosta, Marius Petipa
conductor: Martin Yates
Artist: Kitri (Marianela Nuñez), Basilio (Carlos Acosta), Don Quixote (Christopher Saunders), Sancho Panza (Philip Mosley), Lorenzo (Gary
Avis), Gamache (Bennet Gartside), Espada (Ryoichi Hirano), Mercedes (Laura Morera), Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House Orchestra

Quote:
Carlos Acosta’s first venture directing one of ballet’s 19th century classics was eagerly anticipated, as was his own starring role in the production (as Basilio), opposite the Argentinian Royal Ballet principal Marianela Nuñez (Kitri). Packed cinemas for the live relay, as well as sold-out houses for his performances, testified to the draw the great Cuban dancer still exerts – and the audiences were not disappointed. Still built on Petipa’s original choreography, Acosta’s clear dramatic structure and vivid stage action gave the ‘boy gets girl despite her father’ story a more convincing air than usual, with Don Quixote’s parallel obsession with Dulcinea-Kitri coherently woven into the plot. Acosta’s and Nuñez’s performances were peerless, Tim Hatley’s stage designs vivid and apposite, and this production is surely destined to be aperennial Royal Ballet favourite.

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, October 2013.