"Like Water for Chocolate" in the Cinema

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Royal Ballet Like Water for Chocolate Royal Opera House Recorded 9 June 2022, Screened 19 Jan 2023

If you have not already seen Like Water for Chocolate on stage or on screen I strongly advise you to watch the encore tomorrow.  I have done both.  Tomorrow I am going to the Leeds Showcase to watch it for a third time.  It is the best show that I saw last year.  Indeed, it is one of the best that I have seen in a lifetime of theatre-going.

I was in Covent Garden on 8 June 2022 which was the day before the show was recorded for Thursday's and tomorrow's screenings.  I reviewed it in Like Water for Chocolate on 23 July 2022.  The ballet prompted me to hire the film and buy the book which I could, quite literally, not put down until I had reached the very last page (see Further Reflections on "Like Water for Chocolate" 26 July 2022),  In those articles, I  enthused over Wheeldon's libretto and choreography, Talbot's score, Crowley's designs and Katz's lighting. If you want to learn about all that you will find them in those articles. 

Music and designs for the three-dimensional stage do not always transfer well to a two-dimensional screen. In this case, I think the change of medium worked well.  The biggest difference between the live performance and Thursday's screening was the cast.  

Tita was Francesca Hayward who interpreted the role quite differently from Yasmine Naghdi. I sensed the difference early in the ballet.  At her sister's wedding, the guests throw up. For Hayward that was a disaster. A final humiliation after a day of humiliation.  I really suffered with her. For Naghdi I felt: "serve them bloody right." Not quite revenge but certainly kama. 

Marcelino Sambe danced Pedro exactly as I had imagined him in the book,  Not all that bright and rather wet but somehow infuriatingly attractive.  Again, very different from Cesar Corrales's Pedro who became a very convincing Juan Alejandrez on screen.  

Laura Morera was a scary Elena in life and perhaps even more in death.  I softened to her the first time around as I recalled her suffering but my sympathy quickly evaporated as that outside body with its shock of straight orangey-brown hair tormented her daughter. Meaghan Grace Hinkis was Gertrudis, the sister to whom I warmed the most. Mayara Magri danced Rosaura, the one to whom I warmed the least. Matthew Ball danced the decent but injured Dr John.

One of the advantages of the recording was the focus on the Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra. She had also been the musical consultant introducing composers, instruments and music from Mexico.  In an interview before the show, pride in her country and culture were brimming.  On the day I visited Covent Garden, she unfurled a Mexican tricolour at the reverence or curtain call. 

Of course, there would have been no ballet had there been no book. Those who have never read the book nor seen the film can track the story here.  There is a wonderful interview of Esquivel with Wheeldon on YouTube entitled Insights: Like Water For Chocolate — Beginnings and Origins.  I cannot recommend it too highly.