Ballet Austin Returns With Revival of Hamlet

Stephen Mills' Hamlet has become a global success, and returns to kick off Ballet Austin's 2023-24 season (Image Courtesy of Ballet Austin)

Ballet Austin’s affinity for the works of William Shakespeare are a matter of record: Last season, the company revived their 2004 production of The Taming of the Shrew, and now the troupe leaps into the 2023-24 season with the return of Stephen Mills' critically acclaimed adaptation of Hamlet.

With music by Philip Glass and choreography by Sarah & Ernest Butler Family Fund Artistic Director Stephen Mills, the retelling of the fall of the Danish royal family has become a defining work for Ballet Austin. First performed in 2000 in Mills’ inaugural season, it has gone on to be performed by eight other companies, including the Washington Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and Germany’s Ballet Augsburg.

Reviewing the original production for The Austin Chronicle, Rob Curran wrote that “this version of Hamlet will live long after everyone in the Bass Hall on Saturday night has shuffled off this mortal coil.”

“I think Hamlet is one of the most special stories ever written by Shakespeare … maybe that’s ever been written,” Mills said. “Hamlet has always been relevant. There are elements of each character to which everyone on earth can relate. Art helps us understand life; that’s what I hope people take out of this when they leave the theatre.”

However, this is just the first show in the 2023-24 season, as Ballet Austin mixes classics, new works, and experimental pieces. For the latter, Triad brings together George Balanchine’s neoclassical Concerto Barocco with Amy Seiwert’s contemporary Renaissance, and another work from Mills, CARBON53.

Mills follows that up with the world premiere of the second work commissioned under the Butler New Choreography Endowment. Poe: A Tale of Madness is a follow-up to Grimm Tales, this time looking at the life and works of America’s master of the Gothic. The production will feature a new score by Graham Reynolds and libretto by Shawn Sides.

On the classical side, there’s a duet of works to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as performed by the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Mother’s Day weekend will see four performances of The Sleeping Beauty. And what is Christmas in Austin without the return (for the 61st season) of The Nutcracker?

Hamlet will be performed Sept. 15-17 at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, 701 W. Riverside. Tickets and season passes for the rest of the season are available now at balletaustin.org.

Here’s the full list of the 2023-24 season:

• Hamlet: Sept. 15-17

• The Nutcracker Dec. 2-23

• Triad: Three Bold Dances Feb. 16-18, 2024

• Poe: A Tale of Madness March 22-24, 2024

• The Sleeping Beauty May 10-12, 2024