Last Updated on October 3, 2025
Christopher Wheeldon’s Foray Into Magical Realism
4.0 out of 5.0 starsThe Royal Ballet opened its 2025/26 season with the first revival of Christopher Wheeldon’s 2022 Like Water for Chocolate, and as season openers go, I can’t think of many ballets that would offer an audience more bang for their buck.
Bob Crowley’s stunning, atmospheric designs, Joby Talbot’s sweeping, narrative musical score, magical cookery recipes, rampaging revolutionaries, a vengeful ghost, and an extraordinary coup de théâtre finale, all framing a lifelong forbidden love affair, plunge the audience into a colourful, exotic, sunlit universe that is recognisably Mexico, yet is fantastical nonetheless.
And then there’s Christopher Wheeldon’s choreography and overall vision making a coherent whole out of a multifaceted tale, the eponymous novel by the Mexican writer Laura Esquivel. It has its longueurs in Act I, but they are soon forgotten in the crisp, fast-moving Acts II and III.
Like Water for Chocolate is a sprawling family saga set in 1920s Mexico, a country of rigid family diktats, smouldering passions and revolutionary ferment, all liberally dosed with magical realism and held together by cookery recipes with startling properties. The title refers to the near-boiling point of water needed to make the perfect drinking chocolate. For the protagonists of this story, Tita and Pedro, it means passion and sexual desire on the verge of boiling over.
The plot is complicated and you should read the synopsis and character list beforehand, even though choreographer Christopher Wheeldon tells his tale with remarkable clarity, as befits the clever, fearless choreographer whose previous full-evening narrative works for The Royal Ballet, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (2011) and The Winter’s Tale (2014), became instant classics.
Tita and Pedro are in love, but her daunting mother, Mama Elena, determines that, as the youngest daughter, Tita can’t marry so she can look after her mother until she dies. Pedro is to marry Tita’s eldest sister, Rosaura, instead.
Pedro accepts, so he can remain close to Tita, and until the very end, this frustrated, yet undimmed, love affair pervades everything else. A dish cooked by Tita with the petals of a rose Pedro gave her creates such erotic longings in her middle sister Gertrudis that she goes off with the revolutionary leader, Juan Alejandrez, whose gang has come by the house.
Mama Elena’s determination that Rosaura, Pedro and their baby should go away breaks Tita’s heart. She collapses and is slowly brought back to health by the American Dr John Brown at his Texas home.
Mama Elena dies, but even in death, her vengeful ghost haunts the lovers.
In a flashback, we find out that the young Elena had been intensely in love with a man named José, but had been forced by her family to make a more convenient marriage.
The final scene takes place 20 years later. Rosaura is dead. Dr Brown’s son, Alex, marries Esperanza, Pedro and Rosaura’s daughter. Some kind of equilibrium is restored, and Tita and Pedro are finally free to be together.
There follows an extraordinarily intense pas de deux, danced to a poignant love song sung live in Spanish by Siân Griffiths, full of love, carnality, abandon and at the same time a sense of fatalism – the water boiling over to a point of no return.
I won’t spoil the finale for you, but I will say that you’re unlikely to see a more breathtaking tableau on any other stage any time soon. Plaudits to video designer Luke Halls.
Like Water for Chocolate contains a series of meaty roles and in this run, The Royal Ballet offers both experienced and debutant casts.
On opening night, the roles of Pedro and Tita went to their creators, Marcelino Sambé and Francesca Hayward. Both have made the characters very much their own, conveying love and longing with every step, their mutual chemistry gripping, their presence always compelling even when in the background.
Fumi Kaneko was extraordinary as Mama Elena. Her normally delicate, porcelain doll-like features were distorted with prepotence; her presence, either in life or as a ghost, imposing and scary; yet in the flashback of her youthful love affair, she was a beautiful, vulnerable, passionate young woman. A remarkable dancer proving she is also a remarkable actress.
Soloist Viola Pantuso debuted in the role of Gertrudis with tremendous enthusiasm and the kind of “look at me” performance that bodes well for the future.
Both Gertrudis and revolutionary leader Juan Alejandrez are fun roles, and Luca Acri certainly displayed a clear sense of virtuoso enjoyment with his character, at one point stopping for the briefest moment to face the audience and grin. It was just a small touch, but immensely effective.
Isabella Gasparini did wonders with the unsympathetic role of Rosaura, and an underused Matthew Ball brought his customary allure to Dr John Brown.
Wheeldon finds a good balance between intimate scenes and vibrant ensemble dances, inspired by Mexican folklore, with Joby Talbot’s score also referencing indigenous Mexican music. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under Jonathan Lo’s baton gave a detailed, nuanced account of the score, adding to what was a delightful season opener.
Like Water for Chocolate is in repertoire at the Royal Ballet and Opera from 01/10 to 24/10
Royal Ballet and Opera
Bow Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2E 9DD
Looking for something different? Check our Dance Previews
Leave a Reply