Romeo and Juliet (MacMillan)

Last updated

Romeo and Juliet
Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan
Music Sergei Prokofiev
Premiere1965
Royal Opera House, London
Original ballet company The Royal Ballet
GenreBallet
TypeClassical

Choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Royal Ballet production of Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 9 February 1965.

Contents

Background

Kenneth MacMillan had previously choreographed the balcony scene for Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable to dance in September 1964 for Canadian Television. [1] This scene provided an essential part of the ballet's overall structure. Seymour stated that the balcony scene pas de deux only took three rehearsals to fully choreograph. [2] This experience made him seem a good candidate to choreograph the entire ballet for Covent Garden, when the Soviet Union refused to allow Leonid Lavrovsky's classic production to tour to London. [3] MacMillan prepared his version with the blessing of Frederick Ashton. [4] MacMillan only had five months to choreograph the full ballet as The Royal Ballet hoped to perform Romeo and Juliet in its upcoming American tour. He, Seymour, and Gable planned the ballet around the characters and their pas de deuxs. They envisioned Juliet as the headstrong character, making decisions, while Romeo was "swept off his feet by love". Nicholas Georgiadis designed the set and costumes with specific intent regarding the characters and feel of the performance. The imposing, large set designs were utilized to emphasize how small and vulnerable Juliet was in comparison and position her and Romeo as helpless against the society they live in. MacMillan and Georgiadias were inspired by Italian Quattrocento paintings and architecture; Shakespeare, and Franco Zeffirelli's 1960 Romeo and Juliet production. MacMillan also took inspiration from Cranko's Romeo and Juliet to include the rowdy harlots in the market scenes. [5]

Premiere performance

Kenneth MacMillan's Royal Ballet production of Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 9 February 1965. [6] Though MacMillan had conceived the ballet for Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable, for "bureaucratic reasons" Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev danced the opening night, to MacMillan's disappointment. [7] The casting change was disheartening not only to MacMillan, but to the entire company, contributing to MacMillan and Seymour's eventual move away from the Royal Ballet and Gable's transition away from dancing entirely. [8] Mainly, Fonteyn and Nureyev were given the leading roles because of their fame and box office draw. The impresario for the American tour, Sol Hurok said that the ballet would only be included and profitable in the US if Fonteyn and Nureyev were given the title roles. [9] Fonteyn and Nureyev brought new life to the characters, as did the set and costume designs by Nicholas Georgiadis; Fonteyn, considered to be near retirement, embarked upon a rejuvenated career with a partnership with Nureyev. Lynn Seymour left the Royal Ballet for three years after this slight to dance with the German Opera Ballet in West Berlin, but she returned in 1970 to dance many principal roles. [10]

Response

The first production of Romeo and Juliet was met with overwhelmingly positive critical and box office response. Fonteyn and Nureyev received 43 curtain calls, eventually needing the safety curtain to descend in order to encourage the audience to leave the theater. Critics agreed across the board that the ballet was a fantastic addition to the Royal Ballet's repertoire as well as an accomplishment for MacMillan. The Observer, The Daily Mail, and the Sunday Telegraph were a few of the magazines and papers to review the performance. Andrew Porter with The Financial Times, who was the first critic to discuss the last minute casting change, noted that the ballet could not be fully understood until Seymour performed the role designed for her. [11]

Following performances

Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable danced the lead roles in the second cast, also receiving rave reviews, though not the same level of overt audience appreciation. They were followed by three other pairings in the first tour and many more throughout the decades since.

The first five performances of Romeo and Juliet have remained highly lauded by critics. Alastair Macaulay spoke of Fonteyn and Nureyev's performance as "If there was a single moment in my life that turned me into a ballet obsessive, that was it". In the New York Times in 2007. He also lauded Seymour's rebellious Juliet. [12]

Romeo and Juliet has become a staple of the Royal Ballet's Repertoire. MacMillan went on to restage the ballet for other companies around the world such as The Royal Swedish Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and the Birmingham Royal Ballet. The Birmingham Royal Ballet also included a new set and costume design by Paul Andrews. [13]

Film

The production was filmed by Paul Czinner and received a cinematic release in 1966. The star-studded first cast with Fonteyn and Nureyev performed. [14]

The film was one of a series of movies financed between Rank and the NFFC. [15] It received some strong reviews but was a box office disappointment. [16] Since then it has been live streamed and recorded multiple times, the most recent of which being the 2012 filmed production of the ballet starring Lauren Cuthbertson and Federico Bonelli, filmed by Ross MacGibbon. [17] A 90-minute abridgment by writer-producers (and dancers) Michael Nunn and William Trevitt for BBC television was broadcast in 2020 on PBS Great Performances. [18]

Original cast

Source: [19]

Notes

  1. ↑ Jann Parry, p274
  2. ↑ "Romeo and Juliet Balcony Pas de Deux"
  3. ↑ Jann Parry, p275
  4. ↑ Jann Parry, p276
  5. ↑ "Romeo and Juliet"
  6. ↑ Jann Parry, p285
  7. ↑ Macaulay, Alastair. "Sex, violence, and Kenneth MacMillan" in Reading dance: a gathering of memoirs, reportage, criticism, profiles: p. 422
  8. ↑ Kavanaugh, 328
  9. ↑ "Romeo and Juliet"
  10. ↑ "Lynn Seymour"
  11. ↑ "Romeo and Juliet"
  12. ↑ Macaulay, 2007
  13. ↑ "Romeo and Juliet"
  14. ↑ Kavanaugh, 329
  15. ↑ Petrie p 7-8
  16. ↑ Petrie p 12
  17. ↑ MacGibbon, 2012
  18. ↑ "Romeo and Juliet ~ About | Great Performances | PBS". PBS . 19 August 2020.
  19. ↑ "Romeo and Juliet". Kennethmacmillan.com. Retrieved 15 October 2014.

Sources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudolf Nureyev</span> Soviet-born ballet dancer (1938–1993)

Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is regarded by some as the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margot Fonteyn</span> English ballerina (1919–1991)

Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE, known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet, eventually being appointed prima ballerina assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II. Beginning ballet lessons at the age of four, she studied in England and China, where her father was transferred for his work. Her training in Shanghai was with Russian expatriate dancer Georgy Goncharov, contributing to her continuing interest in Russian ballet. Returning to London at the age of 14, she was invited to join the Vic-Wells Ballet School by Ninette de Valois. She succeeded Alicia Markova as prima ballerina of the company in 1935. The Vic-Wells choreographer, Sir Frederick Ashton, wrote numerous parts for Fonteyn and her partner, Robert Helpmann, with whom she danced from the 1930s to the 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Royal Ballet</span> Ballet company in the United Kingdom

The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalia Makarova</span> Soviet and American ballet dancer

Natalia Romanovna Makarova is a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. The History of Dance, published in 1981, notes that "her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her as the finest ballerina of her generation in the West."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth MacMillan</span> British ballet dancer and choreographer (1929–1992)

Sir Kenneth MacMillan was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Earlier he had served as director of ballet for the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He was also associate director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1984 to 1989, and artistic associate of the Houston Ballet from 1989 to 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alessandra Ferri</span> Italian prima ballerina

Alessandra Ferri OMRI is an Italian prima ballerina. She danced with the Royal Ballet (1980–1984), American Ballet Theatre (1985–2007) and La Scala Theatre Ballet (1992–2007) and as an international guest artist, before temporally retiring on 10 August 2007, aged 44, then returning in 2013. She was eventually granted the rank of prima ballerina assoluta.

Sir Anthony James Dowell is a retired British ballet dancer and a former artistic director of the Royal Ballet. He is widely recognized as one of the great danseurs nobles of the twentieth century.

L'histoire de Manon, generally referred to as Manon, is a ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to music by Jules Massenet and based on the 1731 novel Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost. The ballet was first performed by The Royal Ballet in London in 1974 with Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell in the leading roles. It continues to be performed and recognised internationally.

Dame Merle Park is a British ballet dancer and teacher, now retired. As a prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet during the 1960s and 1970s, she was known for "brilliance of execution and virtuoso technique" as well as for her ebullience and charm. Also admired for her dramatic abilities, she was praised as an actress who "textured her vivacity with emotional details."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynn Seymour</span> Canadian-born ballet dancer (1939–2023)

Lynn Seymour was a Canadian-born ballerina, mostly associated with the Royal Ballet in London. She was a muse of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, creating lead roles in Romeo and Juliet, The Invitation, Concerto, Anastasia and Mayerling, among others. She originated lead roles for several ballets by Frederick Ashton, including The Two Pigeons, Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan and A Month in the Country. She also guested with various ballet companies throughout her life.

Wayne Eagling is a Canadian ballet dancer, now retired. After more than twenty years as a popular member of The Royal Ballet in London, he became well known as an international choreographer and company director.

David Blair was a British ballet dancer and a star of England's Royal Ballet during the 1950s and 1960s.

Maryon Lane was a South African ballet dancer who became well known in Britain as a ballerina of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet and as a soloist with the Royal Ballet.

Georgina Parkinson was an English ballet dancer and ballet mistress. She joined The Royal Ballet in 1957 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1962. Best known for dancing 20th-century works, she was a frequent collaborator of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, and had also created roles for Frederick Ashton. In 1978, she accepted the invitation to become a ballet mistress at the American Ballet Theatre for a year, before assuming the position permanently in 1980. She also performed character roles with the American Ballet Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek Rencher</span> British ballet dancer

Derek Rencher was a British ballet dancer. A commanding figure among Royal Ballet character dancers for more than four decades, he was probably the most prolific performer in the company's history.

Requiem is a one-act ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1976 for the Stuttgart Ballet. The music is Gabriel Fauré's Requiem (1890). The designer was Yolanda Sonnabend, who had first collaborated with him on 1963's Symphony.

Concerto is a one-act ballet in three movements created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1966 for the Deutsche Oper Ballet. The music is Dmitri Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto (1957). The ballet premiered on 30 November 1966.

Anastasia is a ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan. The first version in one act was premiered in 1967 by the Deutsche Oper Ballet. In 1971 MacMillan expanded the work to three acts for the Royal Ballet; the original one-act version became the final act of the 1971 work.

Rudolf Nureyev's production of Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet premiered at the London Coliseum on 2 June 1977.

William Bracewell is a Welsh ballet dancer. He joined the Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2010, and was named soloist in 2014. In 2017, he joined the Royal Ballet in London, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2022. He is the first Welsh person to hold the position.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.