Romeo and Juliet, with Cuthbertson and Bonelli, Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, March 2012

This was the evening of a live cinema relay, though I was seated in the Royal Opera House itself.

Kenneth MacMillan’s version of Romeo and Juliet with its wonderful choreography is what the Royal Ballet performs, and this jewel has been taken up by some other ballet companies such as American Ballet Theatre. There is no comparison with the Mariinsky’s old Soviet version, and I prefer it to the one by Nureyev for the English National Ballet. The designs by Nicholas Giorgiadis evoke just the right atmosphere, and the whole thing is perennially fresh.

Cuthbertson and Bonelli, image by Bill Cooper

In this performance, Lauren Cuthbertson danced a beautiful Juliet, interacting superbly with the Romeo of Federico Bonelli. Their chemistry was excellent and their pas-de-deux work glorious. Of course the eponymous characters are vital, but this was a brilliant team effort. Romeo’s friends Mercutio and Benvolio were exceptionally well portrayed by Alexander Campbell and Dawid Trzensimiech, Campbell performing some superb coupé jetés. The three friends were all very much in tune with one another, and the three harlots were excellent, red-headed Itziar Mendizabal in particular.

On the Capulet side, Bennett Gartside made a very effective Tybalt, never quite losing it, but determined and furious until it’s his turn to die. In the second sword fight, with Romeo after he has killed Mercutio, he cleverly showed himself to be exhausted, and at this point it’s all over for him. Christina Arestis then portrayed a desperately emotive Lady Capulet, and Act II ends. In Act III, Cristopher Saunders came through as a brutally determined Capulet, and Valeri Hristov made a suitably wimpish Paris, rather too eager to win his Juliet.

Scene in the square, image by Johan Persson

In smaller roles, Kristen McNally made a charmingly fussy nurse, interacting very well with the three young men when she delivers Juliet’s letter, and after the big fight between Montagues and Capulets, Gary Avis showed fine stage presence as the Prince of Verona, condemning both sides and ordering them to keep the peace.

Prokofiev’s wonderful music drives everything, and the orchestra warmed up after a very shaky start under the baton of Barry Wordsworth. By the end of Act I they were playing much better, producing some real musical tension to impel the drama forward from scene to scene until finally Paris, Romeo and Juliet all lie dead in the tomb.

Performances at the Royal Opera House with various casts continue until March 31 — for details click here.

Romeo and Juliet with Rojo and Acosta, Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, January 2012

This was stunning. MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet is full of wonderful choreography, and on the opening night of the present run it was superbly danced by the whole company, with the lead roles gloriously performed by Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo.

Tamara Rojo and Carlos Acosta

She was among the finest Juliets I have ever seen, so shy and playfully girlish when she first appears with her nurse, yet seeming to float through the air in the main pas-de-deux with Romeo at the party in Act I. Acosta as Romeo was a powerful presence throughout, and his solo in the Act II public square was magnificent. His partnership with Rojo glowed with passion, and just the right amount of cheekiness when they wave goodbye as he and his friends leave the party. Her body language was quite remarkable: the scenes with Romeo where she walks on air, the scenes with Paris whom she quickly grows to detest, and the anguish as she decides to use the potion given her by Friar Laurence.

Yet it was not all Acosta and Rojo. The rest of the cast was superb, with Gary Avis a restrained Tybalt, so provoked by the Montagues that he finally loses it. This is surely the right way to play Tybalt, rather than being almost out of control from the word go, which I’ve seen sometimes. Johannes Stepanek made a wonderfully wimpish Paris, Christopher Saunders a brutally forceful Capulet, and Elizabeth McGorian a suitably emotive Lady Capulet. José Martín was a fine Mercutio, and some of the smaller parts glowed with inspiration. Right at the start Christina Arestis gave a lovely portrayal of Romeo’s initial flame Rosaline, and both she and Tara-Brigitte Bhavnani as Lady Montague moved with natural grace, getting the épaulement and head tilting to perfection.

The Capulet Ball in Act I

With designs by Nicholas Georgiadis this looks perennially fresh, and then of course there is Prokofiev’s wonderfully emotional music, which was played with huge energy and verve by the orchestra under the direction of Pavel Sorokin. The musical side of things does not always come off so well, but this performance got the present run off to a terrific start — not to be missed.

Further performances with various casts continue until March 31 — for details click here.

Ashton’s Romeo and Juliet, Peter Schaufuss Ballet, London Coliseum, July 2011

Frederick Ashton choreographed Romeo and Juliet for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1955, and it was on a smaller scale than the 1965 Kenneth MacMillan version familiar to Covent Garden audiences. Schaufuss’s mother and father danced Juliet and Mercutio in the original, so Peter Schaufuss is very much involved in this work, and he worked with Ashton on a new production for the English National Ballet in 1985 when he was artistic director. At that time they included ensemble pieces that enlarged the ballet, but in this production Schaufuss claims to have gone back to the original, including original costume designs by Peter Rice, which are wonderful.

Vasiliev and Osipova, photo by Charlotte MacMillan

He has also pared it down to fairly minimal sets by Luciano Melini, showing a large foreground with steps at the rear to a slightly higher level. This has the effect that the front curtain can remain open during scene changes, which are aided by clever alterations in the lighting and changing backdrops. Despite the London Coliseum’s large stage this production has a small cast, enlarged for the Gala on Tuesday, by including Lynn Seymour and David Wall as the Montague parents and Wayne Sleep as Peter the Page — this is what most of the press will review.

Vasiliev and Osipova in rehearsal, photo Tristram Kenton

However, the main couple, Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova, dance all week, and they’re outstanding. She shows huge emotion in the second part as she rejects Paris, flying around the stage in agony before going to see Friar Laurence, very calmly played by Peter Schaufuss himself. Vasiliev is equally terrific, dancing with perfection. His characterisation of the role shows real feeling, and his sword fight with Tybalt was superbly done. In fact the sword fights, to Ashton’s original choreography, are wonderful. Choreographically this has some glorious moments, and Vasiliev was well supported by Alban Lendorf as Mercutio who danced with great vigour and panache, and Peter Schaufuss’s daughter Tara as Mercutio’s girlfriend. Stephen Jefferies gave an immensely strong and cool portrayal of Lord Capulet, with Zoe Ashe-Browne as his wife.

If you’re looking for the balcony scene and those lovely bustling scenes in the square you’ll be disappointed, but this is a must-see for two reasons. One is that Ashton’s Romeo and Juliet is seldom performed in London, but the main reason is that Vasiliev and Osipova are incredible. How they will manage to dance every performance I don’t know, and their first night on Monday was spoiled by technical faults with an unmovable front curtain, adding an extra half-hour or more to the interval, while audience and orchestra remained patiently seated. But it was worth waiting because the English National Ballet Orchestra played Prokofiev’s music superbly under the direction of Graham Bond, so if you can get tickets, do go.

Performances continue every day with Vasiliev and Osipova as Romeo and Juliet — for details click here.

Romeo and Juliet, English National Ballet, ENB, London Coliseum, January 2011

Just to make sure we understand the fateful denouement, four figures of fate appear at the beginning and end, but apart from this, and the final reconciliation between Capulets and Montagues, it’s Shakespeare with Prokofiev’s glorious music. The choreography by Rudolf Nureyev lacks the understatement of Kenneth Macmillan’s version, but fully makes up for it in masculine strength and bravado, coupled with sheer inventiveness that helps define the characters of Juliet and her cousin Tybalt, along with Romeo and Mercutio on the Montague side.

Daria Klimentova and Vadim Mutagirov, photo by Annabel Moeller

The dancing was superb indeed. Vadim Mutagirov made a wonderfully elegant Romeo, and danced like a god. Daria Klimentova as his Juliet played the role to perfection, and her evident dislike of Daniel Kraus’s anxious and clingy Paris came over very well, particularly her distress with the wedding dress in Act III. Juliet’s fondness for Tybalt is expressed in a brief pas-de-deux in Act I, and Fabian Reimair was the kind of Tybalt one could almost feel sorry for — a fiery impulsive young man whose skill with the sword is insufficient to match his angry intentions. Juliet’s shock and lamentation at his death was wracked with emotion. Max Westwell danced strongly as Benvolio, and Juan Rodriguez was superb as Mercutio in a role that is played partly as a comic act but with an added sense of drama when he is mortally wounded by Tybalt, and his friends see his death throes as mere play-acting, which they applaud. Rodriguez — a last minute replacement for Yat-Sen Chang — was entirely convincing in the role, and Paul Lewis was outstanding as Lord Capulet, showing perfect timing and fine musicality. The whole cast danced beautifully, both in the solo parts and the ensemble pieces.

Nureyev’s choreography gives a real edge to the fight scenes, and the punch-up in Act I sets the stage for the extraordinary enmity we witness between two feuding families. He first created the production for this company — known then as the London Festival Ballet — in 1977, dancing the role of Romeo himself. This revival is staged by Patricia Ruanne and Frederic Jahn, who were the original Juliet and Tybalt. It has a thrilling energy, just like Nureyev himself, and is only slightly undermined by the frequent changes of scene, and the dream sequences. The dancers are all utterly committed to acting their roles, and I only wish the Company would get rid of those supers who appear front-stage at the sides in Act II, spoiling the body language expressed by the rest of the cast.

Prokofiev’s music has been slightly rearranged, partly so that additional parts of the story can be expressed, such as the attack on Friar John who carries Lawrence’s letter to Romeo in Mantua. The news of Juliet’s apparent death is brought to Romeo by Benvolio, and the arpeggios that express Juliet’s frenzied frustration in Act III before she consults Friar Lawrence, reappear here to express Romeo’s appalling distress, along with very physical choreography between him and Benvolio. There is much to enjoy and absorb in this fine production, and Gavin Sutherland brought out the power and beauty of the music after a sluggish start during the introduction.

Performances continue until January 15 — for more details click here.

Romeo and Juliet, Royal Ballet, January 2010

What a relief this was from the Maryinsky’s old Soviet pantomime Romeo and Juliet last August. Kenneth Macmillan’s version is the choice of several ballet companies, and with its designs by Nicholas Giorgiadis forms a fine response to Prokofiev’s wonderful music.

Tamara Rojo as Juliet

The cast for this first night of the present run was a strong one headed by Tamara Rojo, whose portrayal of a convincingly distraught Juliet at the end could hardly be bettered. She was very well partnered by Rupert Pennefather, whose elegant and youthful Romeo was equally convincing. Gary Avis was terrific as Tybalt, never overstepping the line into pathological irascibility, as sometimes happens. He was always controlled, while smouldering with mockery at the Montagues, and rage at Romeo.

Romeo’s friends Mercutio and Benvolio were very well danced by José Martín and Sergei Polunin, and in fact Polunin was the best Benvolio I ever remember seeing. His first sword fight in Act I was superbly on the music. David Pickering portrayed an anxiously callow Paris, Genesia Rosato was an excellent nurse, and Elizabeth McGorian a suitably dramatic Lady Capulet. A couple of comments on the more minor roles: Brian Maloney was superbly musical as the soloist in the Mandolin Dance, and the three harlots were all well danced by Laura Morera, Samantha Raine and Francesca Filpi.

Boris Gruzin in the orchestra pit did a superb job, giving the dancers ample musical stimulation. Tamara Rojo will be dancing Juliet again on January the 16^th, presumably with Pennefather who replaced Acosta in this performance,  so any available tickets should be snapped up. If you miss that performance there are plenty more, with a whole range of Juliets, some of whom will be very good indeed — Cojocaru, Benjamin and Nuñez particularly spring to mind.

Romeo and Juliet, Globe Theatre, May 2009

This production by Dominic Dromgoole, designed by Simon Daw, gave a claustrophobic intensity to the drama, while the music composed by Nigel Hess with choreography by Sian Williams helped lighten the atmosphere. As Romeo we had Adetomiwa Edun giving a passionate performance, and commanding the stage with his presence. Unfortunately I found Ellie Kendrick’s Juliet no match for him, and one wondered why he and Paris took any interest in this dull girl. Rawiri Paratene was an impassioned Friar Lawrence, Ian Redford an irascibly intense Capulet, Ukweli Roach a sneeringly dangerous Tybalt, and Fergal McElherron was superbly engaging as Peter, a servant in the Capulet household. These men made the drama work, aided by Philip Cambus as a slightly wild Mercutio, Jack Farthing as an emollient Benvolio, Tom Stuart as a keen and callow Paris, Penny Laden as the nurse, and Andrew Vincent showing good stage presence as prince of Verona. The fight scenes were entirely convincing, and I thought the monks carrying Juliet’s body through the audience in the pit added a very effective touch. Altogether a successful production of the play, though I wish the nurse, Juliet and her mother had come over a little more strongly.