Praised by Fyodor Dostoevsky as “sheer perfection as a work of art” and prompting Ivan Turgenev to write a letter from his deathbed petitioning its author to keep writing, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina has captivated readers with its story of passion and adultery since it first appeared as a magazine serial in the 1870s. It has inspired countless adaptations for stage and screen—no fewer than 14 films, nine operas, at least two plays, several television miniseries, and five major ballets, dating from Bolshoi prima ballerina assoluta Maya Plisetskaya’s first choreographic effort in 1972 with a score composed by her husband, Rodion Shchedrin, to recent works by Boris Eifman (2005) and Alexei Ratmansky (2010). This February, the Joffrey Ballet brings an entirely new production of Anna Karenina to the Auditorium Theatre, with a score by Ilya Demutsky, choreography by Yuri Possokhov, sets and costumes by Tom Pye, and lighting design by David Finn.
This partnership has allowed this new ballet the rare luxury of time—time for Possokhov to collaborate on a libretto with Russian playwright Valeriy Pecheykin, time for Demutsky to render a complete score in advance, and time for the Joffrey’s dancers to work with Possokhov, who has come to Chicago from San Francisco four times since last April to create the ballet, allowing periods for all involved to reflect on the process. “Every day they come to the studio, and no one knows what part they’re going to do and how it’s going to evolve,” says Wheater, “but you begin at 11:30, and by the end of the day you’ve created something.” v
2/13-2/24: Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 2 and 7:30 PM, Sun 2 PM; also Wed 2/13 and Thu 2/21, 7:30 PM, Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells, 312-386-8905, joffrey.org, $35-$199.
