On March 19, a swarm of fairies descended upon the stage of The Citizens Opera House, transforming rococo artifice into an enchanted forest rife with mayhem. Boston Ballet’s 2026 production of “The Dream” — based on Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — captivated audience members with David Walker’s ethereal set and costume design but stayed true to its Shakespearean roots through the comedic timing of its cast.

The set of “The Dream” immediately drew audience members into a forest straight out of a Romantic painting. Enormous trees, with brushstrokes visible on their canopies and trunks, stretched all the way to the ceiling. Whimsical fairies outfitted in diaphanous shreds of green whirled across the stage, their costumes glittering in streaks of ghostly moonlight.

Queen Titania, played by Chisako Oga, was simultaneously impetuous, saucy, and exquisitely graceful. Her feet fluttered so quickly in a pas de bourrée couru that it seemed as if she was skimming across the stage. Oga’s pirouettes were perfectly punctuated by a women’s chorus, weaving in and out of the ballet.

The chorus — comprised of Holly Cameron, Maggie Finnegan, Dana Varga, Christina English, Jaime Korkos, and Lisa Barone — sung an eerie “fairy song” that warned “spotted snakes with double tongue” and “weaving spiders” to stay away from Queen Titania as she sinks into slumber, adding an unsettling edge to the ballet.

Titania’s counterpart, King Oberon (Jeffrey Cirio), was appropriately majestic. After his fight with Titania over a changeling child, Oberon’s annoyance with his wife juxtaposed with a very tender pas de deux at the end of the act, bringing a sense of emotional depth to “The Dream.”

In contrast to the grace of the fairies, hilarious disarray radiated from the human characters. Helena (Ji Young Chae) and Hermia (Sage Humphries) flailed madly across the stage, while Demetrius (Paul Craig) and Lysander (Daniel Rubin) seemed straight out of a Dickensian cartoon. Helena fluttered around Demetrius like an overlarge monarch butterfly, her jealousy of Hermia intense and childish. The ballet cheekily hinted that her envy was misplaced after an accidental kiss — or two — between Demetrius and Lysander.

In spite of the extraordinary performances from the entire cast, the unrivalled star of the show was Sun Woo Lee as Puck. A whirling dervish with a megawatt grin, Lee pranced, twirled, staggered, crept, and leapt across the stage with fluid merriment. When Oberon confronted Puck over the botched delivery of the love potion, Lee’s guilty expression was at once hysterical and relatable to anyone who has ever missed a deadline.

Although “The Dream” was a pleasure to watch, it was preceded by the world premiere of “The Leisurely Installation of a New Window,” which was not leisurely in any way. An electric guitar (Reeves Gabrels) shrieked through the theater’s speakers, completely overpowering the live orchestra and distracting from the dancers. Paul Craig and Daniel Rubin were striking dance partners as “The Reformers,” but the auditory overstimulation made it difficult to fully engage with the performance.

In contrast to the first act of the night, “The Dream” looked, felt, and sounded like a ballet straight from the 19th century. There were no anachronistic modern elements in the costuming or the music to “elevate” the performance. Instead, “The Dream” generated its comedy through the theatricality of its dancers, who delivered their performance with the same gusto as the mice in Boston Ballet’s “The Nutcracker.” “The Dream” manages to balance the whimsical — and sometimes eerie — elements of Frederick Ashton’s 1964 ballet with humor that appeals to all.

—Staff writer Laura B. Martens can be reached at [email protected].