The Washington Ballet Company's performance of "Romeo and Juliet" was a fun and entertaining adaptation of Shakespeare's most popular tragic love story. Performed at the Eisenhower Theater in the Kennedy Center, the show ran April 13-17.
Artistic Director Septime Webre followed a very traditional adaptation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." The colorful opening market scene set the flamboyant, mocking and jovial tone of the Montague boys and the townspeople. The attitude of the Capulets is perfectly captured in the scene of the bombastic and pompous Capulet ball, where the star-crossed lovers Romeo (Runqiao Du) and Juliet (Michelle Jimenez) first meet.
Webre chose to leave out certain key parts of the play, such as Romeo's initial Rosaline infatuation. He also downplayed Friar Lawrence's essential advisory role, and, surprisingly, the family-feud aspect of the play. Webre's goal was to focus instead on the love between young Romeo and Juliet. In a comment to the audience before the curtain rose, he said, "We need some more young love these days."
The dancing itself was good yet simplistic. The large scenes, choreographed by Webre, were visually wonderful, though technically basic. Mercutio (Jason Hartley) stole the stage with mocking and fun-filled dance routines that perfectly portrayed his character.
However, the real magic of the ballet was found in Romeo and Juliet's romantic dance scenes. The balcony and bedroom scenes were beautiful and loaded with a variety of difficult but graceful holds and spins that perfectly expressed growing love, spontaneity and mild apprehension. While the ballet's dancing was not very complex overall, these scenes between the young lovers were impressive enough to make up for it.
The visual aspects of the ballet, however, were far from simplistic. The costumes, done by Christina Giannini, were flowing, elegant, colorful and just plain fun to look at. Giannini's decision to make such a sharp contrast between the Capulet's heavy, dark and pompous costumes in and the light, colorful and fun Montague costumes perfectly relayed the differences between the two families.
The scenery of the ballet, done by Alain Vaes, was just as impressive as the costumes. His elaborately painted backdrops served as another great expression of the pomp and grandeur that surrounded the story. The lighting, done by Kevin Meck, fit perfectly to set the mood, especially in the final tomb scene depicting the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
However, the most impressive part of the play was by far the music. Sergei Prokofiev, the musical director, put together a score of works by Igor Stravinsky that was phenomenal. The music was everything it should have been: fun and playful in the market scenes, overbearing during the ball, soft and elegant at the balcony scene, and sorrowful and dramatic during the death scene. The music was one of the best parts of the performance.
Overall, the ballet was entertaining. While the dancing was generally simple, the dance scenes featuring the principals more than compensated with rich, elegant and complex choreography.
