Rudolf Nureyev stars in his own Don Quixote, after Marius Petipa, music by Ludwig Minkus
With Rudolf Nureyev as Basilio, plus Lucette Aldous (Kitri, Dulcinea), Robert Helpmann (Don Quixote) ...— The Australian Ballet
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Cast
Marius Petipa — Choreographer
Rudolf Nureyev — Choreographer, stage director
Robert Helpmann — Stage director
Barry Kay — Production designer and costumes
Geoffrey Unsworth — Director of photography
Robert Helpmann — Don Quixote
Ray Powell — Sancho Panza
Rudolf Nureyev — Basilio
Francis Croese — Lorenzo (The Inn Keeper)
Lucette Aldous — Kitri (The Inn Keeper's Daughter), Dulcinea
Colin Peasley — Gamache (A Rich Nobleman)
Marilyn Rowe — Queen of the Dryads, Street Dancer
Kelvin Coe — Espada
Gailene Stock — First Girl Friend
Caroline Rappell — Second Girl Friend
Ronald Bekker — Matador 1
John Meehan — Matador 2
Program notes
In 1973, in an abandoned warehouse near Melbourne, who would have thought that one of history's most renowned dancers and choreographers would be filming one of the century's greatest masterpieces? In Rudolf Nureyev’s version of Gorski and Petipa’s famous ballet, based on the Cervantes classic, Nureyev himself and the dancers of the prestigious Australian Ballet twist, turn, and leap in vibrant costumes, transforming the warehouse into a grand theatre of art. The man his contemporaries called “the god of dance” restores the satirical nature of the tale, approaching a sort of commedia dell’arte sensibility and taking on the role of a "master of ceremonies, who runs from one end of the ballet to the other" (Alexander Bland).
Officially added to the repertoire of the Paris Opera in 1981, this work in a prologue and three acts has become a classic of the genre over the years, and this version has often been considered the best dance film ever made. The original score, adapted by the conductor John Lanchbery according to Nureyev's vision, sparkles with classic melodies and renewed modernity, with the addition of several new compositions. In the graceful steps of Lucette Aldous (Kitri), Robert Helpmann (Don Quichotte) and Nureyev himself (Basilio), Don Quixote offers an unforgettable explosion of vibrant colors and exquisite scenes, a showcase for perhaps the finest male dancer of all time.
