Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet ballet. Music by Sergei Prokofiev. Libretto by Leonid Lavrovsky and  Sergei Prokofiev. Staged 2009 by Monika Mason at the Royal Opera House based on original choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky as later revised by Kenneth McMillian. Stars Tamara Rojo, Carlos Acosta, José Martín, Thiago Soares, Yohei Sasaki, David Pickering, Christopher Saunders, Elizabeth McGorian, Laura Morera, Sian Murphy, Isabel McMeekan, Gary Avis, Christina Arestis, Sandra Conley, Alastair Marriott, and Francesca Filpi. Boris Gruzin conducts the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Designs by Nicholas Georgiadis; lighting by John B. Read; directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released  2009, disc has 5.1 dts-HD sound. Grade: A+

There are  5 major strains of Romeo and Juliet in ballet with music by various composers. The Prokofiev score is the most popular, and it is considered to be the best ballet music written since Tchaikovsky. Various choreographers have tackled Prokofiev, and this is a Royal Opera House update of the most successful Prokofiev version. I would be hard pressed to think of any way to improve on this production. All the dancers are wonderful in motion, and Tamara Rojo is an outstanding actress as well. The Royal Ballet Sinfonia sounds grand---their base drum will give your home theater system a chance to show off your ".1". The design and lighting is elegant; the costumes are rich and convincing. There is lots of spirited sword fighting to please boys of all ages. The video cameramen demonstrate great skill in avoiding motion sickness in the many dark scenes and in taking advantage of available light. For particular, I was impressed by the scene of the brightly illuminated Juliet lying in state on her bier surrounded by the total darkness of the family tomb (think the foreshortened image by Andre Mantegna in his painting Dead Christ). If you have the slightest interest in ballet, this Romeo and Juliet must be high on your shopping list. I gave this the grade of "A+." The L'OperaDou jury awarded an "A-." We usually use the higher of the two grades in this situation, so the A+ stands.

We would be delighted to get  a comment from a ballet expert to add here as another mini-review of this title.