Joffrey Ballet’s ‘Little Mermaid’ unsettles as it entrances

In keeping with the darkness of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale, this adaptation is meditative, intense and sometimes even grim. It is also unfailingly beautiful.

By Kyle MacMillen, Chicago Sun-Times

April 20, 2023

To understand and appreciate the Joffrey Ballet’s new production of “The Little Mermaid,” it’s important first of all to understand that it has little to do with Walt Disney’s hugely successful if anodyne animated version from 1989.

Much more in keeping with the darkness of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale, this nearly 2½-hour adaptation is meditative, intense, unsettling and sometimes even grim. It is also unfailingly entrancing and beautiful.

While largely following the original plot, it adds the Andersen-like character of the Poet (Stefan Goncalvez), an odd, anachronistic and socially inept figure who shapes and intervenes in the tale that follows but also fearfully shirks from it at times. 

So, as much as the ballet is a story of a mermaid who longs for love and pines to be human, it is also about the power of fantasy, imagination and words. The only real joy arrives at the very end, when the Poet and his mermaid creation come together in a mystical realm floating in the stars.

It is only then that there is a duet suggesting real connection, as the Poet and Little Mermaid (Victoria Jaiani) each clasp their hands above their bodies in a circular gesture, oscillating back and forth, the Poet then wrapping his circled arms around the Mermaid and resting them on her outstretched arms in the same pose.

Read the full Chicago Sun-Times review here.