'Don Quixote' at Cineplex on Sunday

The ballet Don Quixote was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus and was first presented by the Ballet of the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow in 1869. It is based on episodes taken from Miguel de Cervantes' famous novel, fully titled The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha.

The Bolshoi's production of Petipa's Don Quixote, brilliantly staged by Alexei Fadeyechev, brings together breathtaking displays of virtuoso dancing and enchanting choreography. Featuring brand-new sets and costumes to accompany a colourful and technically challenging production, Don Quixote brims with life. It will be shown at the Palace Cineplex this Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

The novel is considered one of the most influential works of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature and one of the earliest canonical novels, it is chronicled among the greatest works of fiction ever published.

The plot is centred on the adventures of a Mr Alonso Quixano who, having read many chivalric romances, loses his sanity and decides to set out to revive chivalry, undo wrongs and bring justice to the world under the name Don Quixote de La Mancha.

All contemporary interpretations of the Petipa/Minkus ballet are inspired by the version staged by Alexander Gorsky for the Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow in 1900, a production the ballet master staged for the Imperial Ballet of St Petersburg in 1902. It conveys the excitement, colour and wit of Cervantes masterful novel in a merry, high-spirited account of the love between Kitri and Basilio. The lovers must overcome all of Kitri's father's attempts to engineer his unwilling daughter into a more lucrative match.

As the story goes, in Barcelona, there is festive animation in the air. Kitri, daughter of the innkeeper, is flirting with Basilio, the barber, who is in love with her. Finding them together Lorenzo, Kitri's father, chases Basilio away, believing the barber is no fit match for his daughter.

Lorenzo intends Kitri to marry Gamache, a rich nobleman. Kitri refuses outright to submit to her father's will.

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

At the height of the merrymaking, Don Quixote appears in the square, accompanied by his sword-bearer Sancho Panza. Catching sight of the innkeeper, Don Quixote mistakes him for the owner of a knight's castle and greets him with respect. Lorenzo responds in like terms and invites Don Quixote into the inn. Sancho Panza is left in the square. But when some young people start to mock Sancho, Don Quixote immediately hurries to his sword-bearer's rescue.

Seeing Kitri, Don Quixote thinks she is the beautiful Dulcinea whom he has seen in his dreams and chosen as the lady of his heart. But Kitri disappears, as she has run off with Basilio. Lorenzo, Gamache and Don Quixote set out to look for her.

Encore performances of the spectacular new 2015-2016 season of the Bolshoi Ballet, captured live from Moscow, are now showing at Palace Cineplex, Sovereign Centre, Liguanea, St Andrew. Tickets are on sale at the box office and via the web at www.palaceamusement.com, with a Palace Card.