The Australian Ballet Oscar Review
October 9, 2026 | New York City Center – New York, NY, USA
The Australian Ballet’s presentation of Oscar at New York City Center marks the company’s first U.S. return in 7 years. An exceptional group of dancers who exhibit a beautiful mix of refined classicism and sharp dynamics to boot, I would happily see them again and again. Hopefully sooner than 7 years.
Known for his epigrams and short stories, Oscar Wilde made a name for himself as an author and leading figure of the Aesthetic movement (art for art’s sake).
Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon focuses his ballet on the author’s later life and downward career trajectory. Having been charged with “gross indecency” for practicing homosexual acts, Wilde spent two years in prison. His death followed just three years after release. A true melancholic end.
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The Australian Ballet Oscar Review
Not unlike a multi-timeline novel, the ballet’s plot flip-flopped between Wilde’s present-day circumstances in jail, the past that led him there, and two of his fictional stories: The Nightingale and the Rose and The Picture of Dorian Gray. This is where Wheeldon and Joby Talbot, who co-wrote the synopsis, are clever in their story arc.
Quick shifts between scenes kept attention and drove the ballet forward while serving as emblematic tools.
In Act 1, the nightingale promises to fetch a red rose for a smitten boy to present to his crush, but in doing so, the bird must trade her life. In the end, the boy’s floral offering is denied and the nightingale dies for nothing. Much like Oscar, she sacrifices herself for love.
In Act 2, Dorian Gray barters with the devil to maintain everlasting beauty while his portrait ages grotesquely. It culminates with Gray murdering the artist and destroying the painting, thus killing himself. Wheeldon substitutes Wilde in the painting, making sure to deliver pointed symbolism: Wilde feels his hedonism has also caught up with him.
But too many ideas can dilute a message. In this case, the work seems unsure which artistic direction to go in.
An on-stage narrator, the wonderful Sean O’Shea, was excellent but featured too little. Talbot’s music leaned more cinematic than a fully matured ballet score. And Jean-March Puissant’s costumes tried to help the narrative along by cleverly using cursive-lettered fabric to discern fictional characters from reality. But I fear this element would be lost from the balcony.
Puissant’s sets were impressive, an anthropomorphized moon who blinked disapprovingly was particularly enchanting, but at times the elements overshadowed the narrative and the dance.
However, Wheeldon is adept at reinforcing choreographic themes.
The nightingale and Wilde’s lover both strike a bird-like pose on the floor. Wilde repeats an angular box maneuver with his elbows, perhaps resembling metaphorical and literal prisons. Even the scenes that bookmark the ballet are easily digestible: the courtroom scene played out twice, once at the start when we know nothing and then again when we are apprised of Wilde’s suffering.
These shapes land superficially, though, rather than in the gut. Given that written language was Wilde’s forte, the expectation is for the dance language to carry deeper narrative meaning. More texture and grit in the choreography would have helped center the dancing as the foundation.
A complex story and a commendable exploration, but the production remains unbalanced.
Featured Photo of The Australian Ballet‘s Grace Carroll and Adam Elmes with Callum Linnane as the title character in Christopher Wheeldon’s Oscar. Photo by Curtis Brown.
