George Balanchine’s leggy, radiant A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1962) was the first completely original full-length ballet that he made for the New York City Ballet. It is beloved, not least for its sets by David Hays and costumes by Karinska, which bring a shimmer of Botticelli, a frisson of fairy wings in a moonlit wood. The San Francisco Ballet has always had a close relationship with NYCB, so Balanchine’s Midsummer is a natural fit here. This season the company unveils a production with costume and set designs by one of the most historically grounded and giddily inventive fashion designers of our time: Christian Lacroix. Silk damask, brocades of gold and silver, crystals scattered like evening dew—these designs were created for the Paris Opera Ballet’s performances of Mr. B’s Midsummer, and now they make their North American debut in San Francisco. —Laura Jacobs