Russia’s St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre
performs updated Romeo and Juliet

Some stories never grow old. Romeo and Juliet, which lends itself to infinite interpretations, is one of them.

St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre, which last visited the Center for the Performing Arts in an April 2005 performance of Giselle, returns with a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. The company performs the two-act, eight-scene ballet, which combines classical and modern elements in choreography and costumes, at 8 p.m. Friday, April 4, in Eisenhower Auditorium.

Yuri Petukhov, St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre artistic director, choreographed this Romeo and Juliet—based on Shakespeare’s play about star-crossed lovers from the feuding Capulet and Montague families—to music composed by Sergei Prokofiev in the 1930s. See synopsis for a plot outline.

“The playbill simply called it a ballet. But with a strong infusion of square elbows and other Martha Graham-like moves, modern ballet might have been a better characterization,” writes Karyn Saemann, a reviewer for the Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin. “The St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre’s production of Romeo and Juliet…dazzled on a myriad of fronts. But perhaps no more so than in its choreography. For more than two hours, with an edginess befitting the dark tale of teenage passion and death, the troupe of three dozen dancers wove continuously, and seamlessly, between classical and modern moves.”

Yanis Chamalidi’s costumes also combined the traditional and the contemporary.

“While some costumes, particularly those worn by males, were Renaissance-like,” Saemann observes, “others, like Mab’s black, cut-out body suit, were strikingly twenty-first century.”

The younger sibling of the Kirov and Bolshoi ballets, St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre, founded in 1966, embodies the tradition of excellence associated with Russian dance. Most of the company’s dancers, teachers, and coaches studied at the Vaganova Ballet Academy, one of the most prestigious dance schools in the world.

The Romeo and Juliet dancers “showed they simply know how to move and how to act, demonstrating a mastery of both the dancing and dramatic skills needed to pull off a weighty story,” Saemann writes.

At home in St. Petersburg, the birthplace of Russian classical ballet, the company performs at the Mariinsky and Hermitage theatres. The troupe’s frequent international tours have taken it to more than fifty countries.

As artistic director and manager, Leonid Jacobson shaped the direction of the company in its early years. He fashioned a theatre in which any of the more than fifty dancers could become a soloist. “All of them are real, profound, and very subtle professionals,” Jacobson observed. “They are masters of different styles. Just dancing, even good dancing, does not automatically lead to communication. Thousands of people finish ballet schools and dance brilliantly, but very few speak to the audience through the language of dance. Our artists can.”

After Jacobson died in 1976, his friend and favorite dancer Askold Makarov took the helm of the company. During the twenty-two years of Makarov’s leadership, the theatre’s dancers worked with almost twenty ballet masters from throughout the world. The unusually long list of dance creators included a rich variety of traditionalists and innovators.

“Today Makarov’s theatre occupies the first and the best place among those who represent the contemporary ballet in Russia,” said Yuri Grigorovich, the great artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet. “All the dancers are not just highly technically trained, but also have the great academic knowledge characteristic of true artists. Most importantly, all of them can speak the language of choreography.”

Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring artistic director and choreographer Petukhov, is offered in Eisenhower Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity. Seating is available on a first-arrival basis.

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Romeo and Juliet synopsis

ACT ONE

Prologue

The souls of Romeo and Juliet meet in Queen Mab’s world of dreams. They tell us the story of their life and love.

Scene one

Daybreak. Dreamy Romeo walking along the street meets his bosom friends Mercutio and Benvolio. Time passes and the street fills with people. The three friends are in the center of the crowd. The Capulets come. Меrcutiо picks a quarrel, and a terrible fight begins. Women appeal to the fighters to stop.

Scene two

Juliet is playing hide-and-seek with her Nurse. The old woman tells her the young girl will grow up  soon and  turn men’s heads. The appearance of Juliet’s parents with Tibalt and Paris stops the game. The family members prepare themselves for a ball.

Scene three

The ball in Capulet’s house. Always the joker, Mercutio has neglected Queen Mab’s prediction about a misfortune at the Capulet’s ball. He puts on a woman’s dress and begins to flirt with Tibalt. For the first time, Romeo catches sight of Juliet. The two young hearts join in love. Tibalt sees Romeo and gets angry. Mercutio hurries to help his friend and attracts the wrath of Tibalt.

Romeo and Juliet meet after the ball and speak together of their feelings. Nothing can separate them now—not family hatred or even death.

Intermission

ACT TWO

Scene four

Mab plays with a rapier; Life and Death balance on its tip. Who will be the first to stick a rival’s breast?

Scene five

It’s merriment and revelry in the street. The crowd greets its heroes Mercutio and Benvolio. They see Juliet’s Nurse and decide to play a trick on her, but the Nurse has an important message for Romeo. She must tell him that Juliet is waiting for him in the church. Still playing with the old Nurse, Mercutio and Benvolio don’t see that Tibalt and his knights have passed by them. Remembering their fooling Tibalt at the ball, Mercutio and Benvolio have a good laugh at his expense.

Scene six

Romeo arrives at the church where Juliet awaits. With their deep love, they marry in the eyes of God.

Scene seven

Romeo’s friends are still conversing with Juliet’s Nurse when the Capulets appear and beak the pleasant mood. Tensions increase. Tibalt now understands the trick that was played on him at the ball. To regain his dignity, he has decided to fight Mercutio. Tibalt and Mercutio begin their battle. Arriving just in time, Romeo and Juliet try to reconcile the fighters but all in vain. Mercutio is mortally wounded. As he dies, he asks Romeo to avenge his death. Romeo picks up the battle and kills Tibalt. Juliet, in despair, accuses her beloved of her brother’s death. But Queen Mab is above these human passions and accompanies Tibalt and Mercutio to her spirit world, free of hate, enemies, and the living.

Scene eight

Juliet has been betrothed to Paris but refuses to cooperate, which angers her parents. Juliet feels alone in the world. After killing Tibalt, Romeo is exiled and only dreaming can unite him with Juliet. Longing for death, Juliet accepts a potion from Queen Mab. She falls into a deep and lasting sleep. The next morning on the wedding day, the Nurse is unable to wake Juliet. Everyone thinks she is dead. Her parents lament, and the heart-breaking news is delivered to Romeo. He immediately goes to Juliet’s side, but doesn’t want to believe she is dead. In desperation, Romeo asks Mab what to do, but Mab keeps her silence. Stricken with grief, Romeo kisses Mab, but it is a kiss of death, and Romeo falls to the ground. Juliet awakes, but only to find her lover dead. She runs herself through with Mab’s rapier to join Romeo in death, where their love can live on in eternity.  

Epilogue

A glooming peace this morning with it brings.
The sun for sorrow will not show his head.
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardoned, and some punished;
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.