Don Quixote

DON QUIXOTE
(Ballet West Premiere)

Music: Ludwig Minkus, as arranged by Ramona Pansegrau
Choreography: Anna-Marie Holmes, after Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky
Scenic Design: Thomas Boyd
Lighting Design: Nicholas Cavallaro
Costume Design: Judanna Lynn
Costumes and Scenery Courtesy of Houston Ballet

Principal Conductor, Terence Kern (February 10, 18 eve., 15, 17)
Guest Conductor, Jerry Steichen (February 11, 16, 14, 18 mat.)

Prologue
Don Quixote, a valiant and eccentric old gentleman, lies ill at his castle in Barcelona surrounded by dust-covered books in which he has been reading tales of the knights-errant.  He dreams of the Lady Dulcinea, heroine of one of the stories, and in his delirium, vows to save her from her persecutors.  His neighbor, Sancho Panza, interrupts the Don’s delusions.  Don Quixote enlists him as his squire and together they set out on their chivalrous adventure.

Act I – The Port
At the port of Barcelona, the lovely Kitri seeks out her sweetheart, the gallant young barber Basilio.  Their happy meeting in the square is interrupted by her father, the innkeeper Lorenzo, who wants Kitri to marry the wealthy nobleman Gamache.  She refuses and with Basilio and the town folk she dances joyously.  The festivities are interrupted by the arrival of the Don and Sancho Panza. The townfolk tease Sancho Panza until his master rescues him.  As Kitri dances with Basilio, Don Quixote imagines her to be Dulcinea and woos her.  Gamache is furious, but reluctantly joins with the crowd in supporting the Don’s hallucination.  In the confusion that follows, Kitri and Basilio run off to get married with Lorenzo and Gamache in hot pursuit.  Don Quixote and Sancho Panza follow to protect her.

 -Intermission-

Act II, Scene I – The Gypsy Camp
The lovers, seeking shelter in a windmill on the plane on Montiel, encounter a troupe of Gypsies.  The Gypsies offer protection to the fleeing Kitri and Basilio.  Don Quixote arrives looking for his “Dulcinea”.  The Gypsies entertain their visitors with a puppet show that tells the lovers’ story.  The Don, confusing reality and imagination, thinks his Dulcinea is in danger and attacks the puppets and the windmill.  He envisions strange creatures and falls down in exhaustion and defeat.

Act II, Scene II – The Vision
In Don Quixote’s dreams, Cupid takes him to a magic garden where the Queen of the Dryads brings a grateful Dulcinea to him.  The Don declares his love for her.  The dream fades as a panicky Sancho Panza awakens him. Lorenzo, Gamache and the villagers have arrived in pursuit of the lovers who have escaped once again.  The Don sets off after the villagers, determined to protect his lady, with his faithful squire by his side.

-Intermission-

Act III, Scene I – The Tavern
Kitri, Basilio, and their friends are celebrating their escape in a tavern.  Lorenzo, Gamache, Don Quixote, and Sancho Panza arrive.  Lorenzo is determined to marry his daughter to Gamache.  Basilio pretends to kill himself and Kitri entreats Don Quixote to intercede with her father so that she may marry the “dying” Basilio.  The ruse succeeds and Basilio springs to life again.  In a fury, Gamache challenges the Don to a duel but is overwhelmed by him before any real harm is done.

Act III, Scene II – The Wedding

His good deed done, the knight errant, Don Quixote, joins the entire town in celebrating the wedding of Kitri and Basilio, and with Sancho Panza by his side, the Don valiantly continues his romantic quest for fair and elusive Dulcinea.