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The Royal
Ballet
Music
by
Sergei Prokofiev
Choreography
by Kenneth
MacMillan
Designed
by
Nicholas
Georgiadis
Orchestra
of the
Royal Opera House
conducted by
Mikhail Agrest
Juliet
Tamara Rojo
Romeo
Carlos Acosta
Mercutio
Jose Martin
Tybalt
Thiago Soares
Benvolio
Yohei Sasaki
Paris
David Pickering
Lord Capulet
Christopher
Saunders
Lady Capulet
Elizabeth
McGorian
Escalus
Gary Avis
Rosaline
Christina
Arestis
Nurse
Genesia Rosato
Friar Laurence/
Lord Montague
Alastair
Marriott
Lady Montague
Vanessa Palmer
Three Harlots
Laura Morera
Isabel McMeckan
Sian Murphy
Artists of
the Royal Ballet
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Royal
Opera House
Covent Garden
3
March - 10 April 2006 |
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MacMillan's
Juliet might have been made
on Tamara Rojo, whose delicacy,
vulnerability, sensitivity
and lightness make her an
exquisite exponent of the
role. It takes great acting
talent to bring out the rich
palette of emotions in MacMillan's
subtle choreographing of the
part, which is wonderfully
restrained and contained,
a fact one notices with sudden
delight against the background
of MacMillan's brilliantly-wrought
crowded scenes in market place
and ball-room, full of various
incident and intricate interweaving.
Only think of the fact that
on a tapestry of continuous
movement Romeo and Juliet
encounter one another, their
palpitating first realisation
of love standing out as if
coloured and lit in sharp
contrast to the flowing, swirling,
interlacing dance through
which the two move oblivious
even of those with whom they
intermittently partner.
Carlos Acosta is always a
high pleasure to watch. He
too is an actor of consummate
expressiveness; he loads single
gestures with a complete stories
of feeling, and his elastic,
feline power in movement comes
from a profound natural talent.
But what took the breath away
with this production was the
dancerly rapport between Tamara
Rojo and Carlos Acosta, who
work together with implicit,
intuitive understanding. For
them this ballet is in its
very sinews a pas de deux,
not a pairing for soloistic
elan, even though the two
principals dance apart for
so much of the time. In the
understated and passionate
moments when the choreography
brings them together, MacMillan
reaches back into the tradition
to make acting do as much
of the work as dancing; so
the rapport counts.
To praise for the achievement
of the principals in this
excellent production must
be added praise for the company
as a whole, who perform wonderfully
well. Jose Martin is always
a delight to watch, and is
a marvellous Mercutio ‚ cheeky,
gifted, full of fun and quick
feeling. It would be hard
to imagine a better Tybalt
than Thiago Soares, brooding
and angry. And the three Harlots,
Laura Morera, Isabel McMeckan,
Sian Murphy, gave a bravura
performance. There was not
a fault in the dancing anywhere.
Purists might say that the
same judgement does not quite
attach to the conducting of
Mikhail Agrest, especially
in the first act. Personally
disconnected from the dance
‚ he appeared never to look
up, never to cue the dancers;
his concentration was elsewhere
to such an extent that he
seemed to leave the company
to go its own way above his
head ‚ his tempi were his
own, and in the first act
they lagged. But the orchestra
of the Royal Opera House is
a good one, and Prokofiev's
score is a work of genius
from first to last note, and
it is hard for such a combination
to go far wrong. In the second
and third acts any disquiet
about the conducting were
submerged in the joy of the
dance, which in the end matters
so much more, and in this
case trumped every other consideration.
AC Grayling |
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