The Royal Ballet has released casting information for Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works, a celebration of Christopher Wheeldon’s choreographic versatility, encompassing musical theatre and ballet
The show will play the main stage of the Royal Opera House from 9 to 27 May 2025.
The production will also be live screened to cinemas on 22 May, and encore screenings available from 25 May 2025.
Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works celebrates the choreographic talent of The Royal Ballet’s Artistic Associate, Christopher Wheeldon. In a career spanning ballet to musicals, Wheeldon has earned international acclaim and multiple awards. This programme showcases the breadth of Wheeldon’s choreographic talent with four works from across his repertoire, from sensuous contemporary ballets to the dazzle of Broadway choreography.
Earlier this month, Christopher Wheeldon won Best Theatre Choreographer at the 2025 Olivier Awards, for his choreography of MJ The Musical at the Prince Edward Theatre in London.
Conducted by Koen Kessels, Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works promises an evening of exceptional dance theatre and features a new extended excerpt from the ballet section of the Tony-award-winning An American in Paris, plus Royal Ballet premieres of The Two of Us and Us (Duet), and a revival of Fool’s Paradise.
The production will open with Fool’s Paradise, the first of Wheeldon’s many collaborations with composer Joby Talbot. The cast of Fool’s Paradise includes Akane Takada, William Bracewell, Marianela Nuñez, and Lukas B. Brændsrød; and on alternate evenings, Ella Newton Severgnini, Vadim Muntagirov, Melissa Hamilton, and Reece Clarke.
Two Royal Ballet premieres then follow. The Two of Us, set to the songs of Joni Mitchell, and created in 2010 for the Fall for Dance Festival in New York, will be performed by Principal Guest Artist Lauren Cuthbertson and Principal dancer Calvin Richardson. Further shows will be performed by Fumi Kaneko and Francisco Serrano, and Annette Buvoli and Lukas B. Brændsrød.
Also, Us (Duet), a tender duet danced by two men, created in 2017 for the BalletBoyz and set to music by Keaton Henson. Principal dancers Matthew Ball and Joseph Sissens will perform together on opening night with subsequent performances by Joshua Junker and Liam Boswell, and Leo Dixon and Téo Dubreuil.
Closing the programme is an excerpt of the ballet sequence from the Broadway musical An American in Paris, especially extended for The Royal Ballet. Inspired by the 1951 film of the same name, Wheeldon adapted the work for the Théâtre du Châtelet du Paris in 2014 and subsequently on Broadway and the West End, where it established Wheeldon as the outstanding musical director-choreographer of his generation. Principal dancers Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales feature as Lise and Jerry in the opening night cast, with Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Joseph Sissens, and Meaghan Grace Hinkis and Luca Acri performing on subsequent evenings.
Alongside Choreography by Christopher Wheeldon and Conductor Koen Kessels, the creatives include: Fool’s Paradise – Music Joby Talbot, Costume Designer Narciso Rodriguez, Lighting Designer Penny Jacobus; The Two of Us – Music Joni Mitchell, Orchestrated by Gordon Hamilton, Costume Designers Harriet Jung and Reid Bartelme, Lighting Designer Kate Ashton; Us (Duet) – Music Keaton Henson, Costume Designer Katherine Watt; An American in Paris – Music George Gershwhin, Designer Bob Crowley, Lighting Designer Natasha Katz.
Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works is playing on the main stage of the Royal Opera House from 9 to 27 May 2025.
Book Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works tickets at the Royal Opera House in London
Book MJ the Musical tickets at the Prince Edward Theatre in London
Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works
Royal Opera House, London
Book tickets
📷 Main photo: Ballet to Broadway – Wheeldon Works – An American in Paris & Christopher Wheeldon (Photo Olivier Awards 2025 by Joanne Davidson)
More >
More >