The Royal Ballet: Romeo and Juliet (September 22nd, 2015)

The Royal Ballet's

Romeo and Juliet

Sept 22nd, 2015

A trip to the Royal Opera House is always exciting, but doubly so when you're going to see your favourite ballet! My favourite shakespeare play and my favourite ballet, Romeo and Juliet is a beautiful story with so many different possible interpretations, and I was very excited to see what the Royal Ballet had put together. I was also lucky enough to see the show as it was being filmed and streamed live across the world. It was very exciting. Anyway, onto the review!

The cast of this performance was as follows: Sarah Lamb (Juliet), Steven McRae (Romeo), Alexander Campbell (Mercutio), Gary Avis (Tybalt), Tristan Dyer (Benvolio), Ryoichi Hirano (Paris), Christopher Saunders (Lord Capulet), Elizabeth McGorian (Lady Capulet), Bennet Gartside (Escalus), Lara Turk (Rosaline), Genesia Rosato (Nurse), Alastair Marriot (Friar Laurence/Lord Montague), and Sian Murphy (Lady Montague). Juliet's Friends were played by Elizabeth Harrod, Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Fumi Kaneko, Emma Maguire, Anna Rose O'Sullivan, and Romany Padjak. The Three Harlots were played by Itziar Mendizabal, Olivia Cowley, and Helen Crawford. 

This production was very different from Ratmansky's R&J at the National Ballet of Canada, which is the only other version of the ballet I've seen live (and which I love dearly). Of course, Prokofiev's beautiful score is the same, and the orchestra at the ROH is absolutely stunning. All in all, though, I have to say I probably preferred NBoC's R&J. However, there were many things I enjoyed about the Royal Ballet's, and I'll discuss that first.

The costuming, first of all, was beautiful. The court gowns were sumptuous and richly coloured, with immaculate headpieces. The women's dresses were light as air, and moved beautifully as the girl's turned and jumped. All of the men's tops were detailed, sparkly (yay), and looked perfect for the period. I liked that there was a clear colour scheme; one family was in red (Capulet) while the other was in shades of green and blue (Montague). It made it easier to tell who was who (though I couldn't tell you the difference between Mercutio and Benvolio until the former died). I really liked the attention to detail; the costume designer successfully made the piece look like it came straight out of renaissance Italy (the headpieces/wigs were very helpful in creating this vision). 

The set design was also very good. Big, grand buildings and backdrops. Nothing was left to the imagination; it was all there in front of you, and the dancers interacted with the set, which I loved. This is important to me because so often detailed sets aren't really incorporated into the ballet, in which case the set looks more like its in the way than anything else. So in this way, the interaction between the choreography and set design were very well thought out.  

The leads, Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae, were no doubt phenomenal dancers individually. Exquisite technique, flawless execution, not a bobble or wobble in sight. McRae didn't dance much individually, but his interactions with Benvolio and Mercutio were charming and entertaining, and the three of them danced together as a group very well. McRae established a playful young man who became utterly consumed by his love for Juliet. Lamb's approach to Juliet I felt was not fully fleshed out. She excelled at the 'Juliet Alone' variation (it was beautifully emotional), but otherwise, while I saw the young naive girl, there was nothing else to the character. Moreover, for being so small and thin, she landed her jumps very heavily. She didn't feel very airy or free. I wasn't really feeling these two as a partnership either. There was little to no connection; they looked at each other and smiled occasionally, but I couldn't feel the chemistry that is so essential for a believable Romeo and Juliet. Some of it may have been the choreography; there was very much a sense of 'ok, now we're dancing…. now let's stop dancing, emote a bit… ok, back to dancing' if that makes any sense. It just felt lacklustre, and I really couldn't get into the story because of it.

I also felt that some of the choreography was rather weak. The aforementioned interactions between Romeo and Juliet aside, in general, the choreography felt repetitive (more so than your average ballet). How many times can one dancer, who is otherwise an extraordinary dancer, do the same arabesque to plie? Apparently, eight or nine times a scene. I did really like the little dance interludes that Mercutio, Benvolio, and Romeo had every once in a while. Those three dancers worked very well together, and the choreography was clever, spritely, and interesting. Other than that, though, it just felt boring. As well, there was a lot more emphasis on the period dance (especially at the ball) rather than straight ballet. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't to my taste. There was a particular scene in Ratmanksy's R&J where the Friar is telling Juliet what the potion will do, and how the plan is meant to work - I won't say exactly what it is (see my June 2013 Review), but let's just say that Ratmansky's way of explaining it to the audience was far more effective than the Friar waving his hands around a few times and 'voila!' explained!

Although I didn't enjoy this trip to Romeo and Juliet and I do believe it's a solid production, there were a number of weaknesses I felt should be addressed that prevented it being my ideal R&J. That said, I'm looking forward to seeing more of the Royal Ballet this year. The costuming, set design, and technical abilities of the dancers is beyond compare.