Sweet moves: the Royal Ballet’s Like Water for Chocolate – in pictures
Christopher Wheeldon’s new ballet is an adaptation of Laura Esquivel’s tale of magical realism, starring Francesca Hayward and Marcelino Sambé. Tristram Kenton went into rehearsals
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Francesca Hayward plays Tita and Marcelino Sambé is Pedro. The pair fall in love but are forbidden from marrying
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Hayward as Tita, the talented cook whose food is imbued with her emotions
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Hayward and Sambé with dancer Leo Dixon, hugging in the wings during rehearsals
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Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon is staging the adaptation of Mexican author Laura Esquivel’s popular novel
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Laura Morera, left, plays Mama Elena, Tita’s mother
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‘It’s a very dynamic story’, says Wheeldon, who has worked closely with Esquivel on the ballet. ‘There’s a ghost, a band of revolutionaries and, of course, the magic’
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The music is by Joby Talbot and the design by Bob Crowley [This caption was amended on 31 May 2022; the composer is Joby Talbot, not Jody as an earlier version said.]
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Mayara Magri and Sambé in the wings
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Like Water for Chocolate is a co-production with American Ballet Theatre, while the Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra is musical consultant
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Annette Buvoli, first artist of the Royal Ballet, during rehearsals
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Hayward, centre, with Kristen McNally (principal character artist) and Edward Watson who is now répétiteur to the principal artists
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Like Water for Chocolate is at the Royal Opera House, London, 2–17 June
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