Given its premiere by The Royal Ballet in 1965 with Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn dancing the title roles, Kenneth MacMillan's first full-evening ballet has become a signature work for the Company, enjoying great popularity around the world. From the outset, the production teems with life and colour as the townspeople, market traders and servants of the rival Montagues and Capulets go about their daily business in vibrant crowd scenes. But Romeo and Juliet take centre stage for those great pas de deux: the meeting in the ballroom, the balcony scene, the morning after the wedding and the final devastating tomb scene. Although The Royal Ballet has performed Romeo and Juliet over 400 times, each performance and pairing is subtly different and Lauren Cuthbertson and Federico Bonelli are utterly captivating in the title roles.
Press Reviews "... dance quality in this performance was technically exemplary at every rank in the cast hierarchy. No detail was left unpolished, from the magnificence of the ballroom scene to the market place, which was imbued with plenty of colour and dynamism from the harlots in particular. Intrinsic to the whole, of course, was Prokofiev's magnificent score. Its performance by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under the baton of Barry Wordsworth was achingly beautiful." (Independent Dance Reviews)"... [the] performance exemplified the Royal Ballet's high standards of seamless, naturalistic and musically attentive dance acting." (The New York Times)
"Such is the breathtaking impact of this production, with consistent excellence to savour from both principals and the corps, magnificent costumes and stage scenery and spot-on camera direction from Ross MacGibbon that criticism is effectively silenced. If you have been waiting for a truly outstanding Romeo and Juliet to appear on Blu-ray, then look no further." (International Record Review)
Cast Lauren Cuthbertson (Juliet) Federico Bonelli (Romeo) Alexander Campbell (Mercutio) Bennet Gartside (Tybalt) Valeri Hristov (Paris) Christopher Saunders (Lord Capulet) Orchestra of the Royal Opera House; Barry WordsworthProduction Company: The Royal Ballet Stage Director: Monica Mason; Christopher Saunders Choreographer: Kenneth MacMillan
Disc Information Catalogue Number: OABD7116D Date of Performance: 2012 Running Time: 168 minutes Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Label: Opus Arte
