Once More, I'm Trapped in a Ballet! Quiz

Answer: A Midsummer Night's Dream

The worlds of humans and fairies collide in this ballet based on Shakespeare's play. The fairy Puck makes sleeping humans breathe the scent of a flower that will make them fall in love with the first person they see upon waking. Of course, they see the wrong person, and hijinks ensue. Titania, Queen of the fairies, also breathes this flower's aroma and falls in love with Bottom, a man who hass been given a donkey's head. Being a comedy, everything is set right and all lovers are matched to their proper partners by the end.

Answer: Don Quixote

Despite being the title character, Don Quixote doesn't figure into the story very much. The main conflict comes from Kitri being in love with Basilio while her father wants her to marry the nobleman Gamache. Don Quixote sees Kitri as his Dulcinea, but she marries Basilio.

Answer: Les Sylphides

"Les Sylphides" is a short (about 30 minutes long) ballet set to several Chopin pieces, including "Nocturne in A-flat major", "Mazurka in D major", and "Grande valse brillante in E-flat major", though the exact pieces used vary with the production. The ballerinas dance with a single male dancer.

Answer: The Nutcracker

Clara helps the Nutcracker Prince in his fight against the mice by hitting the Mouse King with her shoe. This act apparently impresses the Sugar Plum Fairy so much that she awards Clara a necklace, while the Prince, who has turned back into his original form as a man, gets a medal. Dances are based such things as snowflakes, chocolate, coffee, tea, flutes, flowers, and sugar plums.

Answer: Raymonda

I'm the White Lady, an ethereal figure who shows Raymonda visions of her love, Jean de Brienne, and the villain, Abderakhman, who wants her for himself and is willing to kidnap her. The two men fight over her in Act II, but all turns out well.

Answer: Winter Dreams

This ballet was loosely based on Anton Chekhov's play "Three Sisters". The three sisters are called Olga, Masha, and Irina. Olga is a single teacher, and optimistic Irina works in Moscow. Masha is married to a man she doesn't love, and falls in love with another. The flashbacks are had during a dinner with the sisters' brother Andrey.

Answer: Napoli

The full title of the ballet is "Napoli, or The Fisherman and His Bride". Teresina loves poor fisherman Gennaro, but her mother wants her to marry a rich man. She sails away with him, but is lost in a storm, after which the above grotto scene happens. Like "Coppelia", "Raymonda", and "The Sleeping Beauty", Act III of "Napoli" is largely a wedding celebration.

Answer: The Prince of the Pagodas

Okay, I exaggerate--my blindfold's thin and gauzy so that I, Rose, can still see to dance. While my sister Epine takes over the kingdom briefly, she's banished after I return and kiss my salamander prince, turning him human again so he can fight Epine's allies. Kenneth MacMillan revived the ballet in 1989 from its 1957 premiere.

Answer: Romeo and Juliet

Prokofiev wrote the score for this ballet. It follows the tragedy of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets quite closely. Mercutio, Tybalt, Romeo, and Juliet still die in the same ways they do in the play: Tybalt kills Mercutio in a sword fight, Romeo stabs Tybalt, and the two lovers commit suicide.

Answer: The Red Shoes

This 2016 ballet by Matthew Bourne is based on the 1948 film where a ballerina must choose between love and a dancing career. The ballet-within-a-ballet in "The Red Shoes" is based on Andersen's fairy tale of the same name about a girl who puts on red shoes and can't stop dancing.