Kansas City Ballet announces ambitious new season with old favorites, a landmark work
When Devon Carney became artistic director of the Kansas City Ballet, he was charged with taking the company to a new level. Despite a pandemic roadblock, Carney has done a remarkable job, building the ballet to the point where it could mount two classics which were previously beyond its reach: Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and “Sleeping Beauty.”
Carney celebrates his 10th anniversary with the Kansas City Ballet next season, and he’s programmed another landmark work never before done by the company, George Balanchine’s full-length abstract ballet “Jewels.”
The season opens in October with the gothic horror tale “Jekyll and Hyde,” December will see the return of “The Nutcracker,” and next February, Carney’s “Peter Pan” makes a return flight after a successful 2018 Kansas City premiere.
The Finnish National Ballet gave “Jekyll and Hyde” its first performance in November 2020. The ballet was choreographed by Val Caniparoli, and the score was put together by Ramona Pansegrau, music director for the Kansas City Ballet. Pansegrau arranged appropriately eerie music by Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Gorecki, and Wojciech Kilar to complement the Robert Louis Stevenson story.
“The Nutcracker” will make the holidays merry throughout the month of December. Carney’s eye-popping take on this holiday mainstay is both classic in conception and technologically advanced in execution. It’s a real sugar plum of a treat.
Carney has an obvious affinity for childlike fantasy. In 2018, when the Kansas City Ballet premiered his “Peter Pan,” Carney told me, “There’s a bit of Peter Pan in me. It’s the story of a boy who never wanted to grow up. I’ve always wanted to do a ballet like this. The storyline is fun and adventurous and bold.”
“Peter Pan” proved to be such a hit, the ballet is bringing it back for another run in February.
The big news next season, however, is a work many of us have been waiting years for the Kansas City Ballet to perform, Balanchine’s “Jewels.” This magnificent, full-length ballet is widely considered to be the choreographer’s masterpiece. The three movements, “Emeralds,” “Rubies” and “Diamonds,” set to music by Fauré, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, sparkle with genius.
Carney has been working his way up to staging the complete “Jewels.” He first presented the “Diamonds” section appropriately enough during the ballet’s 60th anniversary season in 2018. The performance was so beautiful, I’m confident the complete “Jewels” is going to be stunning.
Kansas City Ballet season:
All performances at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. For tickets and more information, 816-931-8993 or kcballet.org.
Oct. 13-22: “Jekyll and Hyde.” Music by Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Gorecki, and Wojciech Kilar with interpolations by Henryk Wieniawski and Frédéric Chopin. Choreography by Val Caniparoli.
December 1-24: “The Nutcracker.” Music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Choreography by Devon Carney.
Feb. 16-25: “Peter Pan.” Music by Carmen DeLeone . Choreography by Devon Carney.
May 10-19, 2024: “Jewels.” Music by Gabriel Fauré, Igor Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. Choreography by George Balanchine.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
The Harriman-Jewell Series brought the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to Kansas City on the group’s first American tour in 1968. It was love at first sight. The series brought the ensemble to town many more times over the years, and, partially through the advocacy of Richard Harriman, the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey was founded to provide a second home for the company and promote education through initiatives like the six-week summer AileyCamp.
The Harriman-Jewell Series will present the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on March 24, and the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey will present the company on March 25. Both performances are at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre.
The program includes Twyla Tharp’s “Roy’s Joys,” Alvin Ailey and Mary Barnett’s “Survivors” and “Revelations.” First produced by Alvin Ailey in 1960, “Revelations” has become a signature work of the company.
Inspired by Ailey’s Christian upbringing, as well as the writings of Langston Hughes and James Baldwin, “Revelations” depicts the joys and sufferings of Black Americans through modern dance, blues and spirituals. The work has become an icon of American ballet, and was performed at the inaugurations of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
7:30 p.m. March 24, Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $15- $85. 816-415-5025 or hjseries.org.
1 p.m. March 25, Muriel Kauffman Theatre. $38.50-$93.50. 816-471-6003 or kcfaa.org.
Kansas City Ballet’s New Moves
It’s appropriate that the Kansas City Ballet always has its “New Moves” program in spring. There’s a freshness, youthfulness and vitality to the program that seem in keeping with the season.
“New Moves” will be presented March 23 to 26 at the Michael and Ginger Frost Theater. The intimacy of the venue heightens the visceral excitement of “New Moves,” as the dancers perform works by some of America’s finest young choreographers, some of whom are members of the Kansas City Ballet.
7:30 p.m. March 23, 24 and 25 and 2 p.m. March 25 and 26. Michael and Ginger Frost Theater at the Todd Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity, 500 W. Pershing Road. $75. 816-931-8993 or kcballet.org.
Friends of Chamber Music — Dido and Aeneas
After Henry Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” was first performed by Josias Priest’s girls school in London in 1689, the opera was not performed again in Purcell’s lifetime. In fact, after 1705, the work was not performed at all until 1895.
Luckily for us, “Dido and Aeneas,” now considered the greatest English Baroque opera, will be performed by Boston Camerata, led by Anne Azéma, on March 24 at Community Christian Church. The concert is presented by the Friends of Chamber Music.
The Boston Camerata was founded in 1954 and is one the finest ensembles devoted to early music. The group knows how to accentuate the drama and bring early theatrical works to life. “Dido and Aeneas,” full of tragedy and tender pathos, as well as the occasional boozy sailor’s song, will give them a lot to sink their teeth into.
7:30 p.m. March 24. Community Christian Church, 4601 Main St. $25-$40. 816-561-9999 or chambermusic.org.
You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.
