Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo: Romeo & Juliet

[zxDaveM]

Stephen Wright was at the rehearsal for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo's Romeo & Juliet at the Coliseum this week. Here are some photos:



Lucien Pastlewaite, Noélani Pantastico
© Stephen Wright.
Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr



April Ball, Ediz Erguc
© Stephen Wright.
Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

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Set from DanceTabs: Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo: Romeo & Juliet
Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

[alison]

Thanks, Dave.  It's a shame that so many of these clash with the RB's run of Fille, so I haven't been able to go to see this yet.

[aileen]

I loved it. An utterly absorbing performance which showcased the company's superb dancers. The men in particular were incredibly powerful. Wonderful pared down but effective sets, and costumes which were a modern twist on the traditional. Maillot has gone for pure dance and so there are no periods of just acting. All the characters including the Friar (an expanded part), Lady Capulet and the Nurse were dancing parts. There were no swords but the fight scenes worked really well. The most amazing scene was the death of Tybalt which took place in slow motion against the energetic music for Tybalt's death; it was incredibly effective.

 

I saw the cast in the photographs.

Edited April 25, 2015 by aileen

[nickwellings]

I was there this afternoon. The poor old Coli was about half full. I had a seat centre of row A for balcony, bought a long time ago. I made my way to the stairs to the balcony but it was roped off. Uh-oh. A gentleman was there handing out replacement tickets: everyone with balcony tickets was moved to upper circle. Cue some negotiation and wheedling for a nice seat, whch was unecessary, because the Upper circle was itself very empty.

Even so, the performers received loving and heartfelt appalause. Lots of cheers and whistles. I was gladdened. Maillot himself came onto the stage to receive some applause.

The show itself was slick, staging deft. The puppet-show was a delight, the slo-mo sequence aileen mentions truly memorable and one or two other moments (the ending kiss, Juilette's almost orgasmic rapture in the balcony PDD, which I think you can see online) were thrilling. The vocabulary was quite frenetic, and I wasn't too taken with the writing for the Nurse. I first though Friar was "Chorus" from the play, and only until very late did it strike me who he was. Special mention goes to a very menacing Tybalt from Alvaro Prieto and to Juliet (Noelani Pantastico). I found myself thinking that the piece could really be called "Juliet" so heavily is it focused on her. Her solo variations looked quite demanding, and as with her acting, it was all well done. Sadly, I wasn't quite moved, but I was entertained and diverted, and involved, and that's good enough for me.

Edited April 25, 2015 by nickwellings

[Coated]

I like Maillot's aesthetics and the crisp athletic movements of his choreography, but his R&J leaves me entirely unmoved. Juliet comes across as a bit of spoilt brat, the gentle teasing of the nurse turns into something I'd classify as servant abuse and as mentioned by Nick, the characterisation of the nurse is somewhat off. I'm also puzzled why Lady Capulet is a single mother, how the priest did not notice Juliet strangling herself behind him, how Maillot thought anyone can strangle themselves without the aid of knots and gravity and most importantly: did she strangle herself with the metaphorical lifeblood flowing from Romeos breast after he crushed his sternum by ramming the altar/bed due to lack of weaponry suitable to suicide, or did she use a scarf found on his dead body when she randomly checked whether he perchance had one concealed under his shirt?

 

I don't normally hunt for plot holes in ballet (most ballets have some that are large enough to drive a double decker straight through), but this one exceeded my capacity for suspension of disbelieve.

 

That said, I thought the design, Lady C, Tybalt and Mercutio were fab, I loved their Lac last time around at the Coli and hope they are coming back next year.

[Bruce Wall]

I very much enjoyed many elements of this presentation not least - as Coated suggests - the design of the scenery, costumes and lighting.  Each was clean and clear in cherishing the movement each was assigned to highlight.  Happily nothing got in the way and all aspects - baring the delightful puppet dumb show which I too adored - were depicted through the artistry of dance itself.  

 

I saw this presentation by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo twice.  I went on the the first night because I wanted to see the two leads: Noelani Pantastico and Lucien Postlewaite (who still wears the speed of his SAB training with pride).  Both have been principals with PNB under the direction of the extraordinary Peter Boal.  Having read so many glowing reports of that company since that time - and given the relatively rare exposure to such balletic components in London - I was hungry to at least in part taste of their skill - in whatever guise - for myself.  Happily I was not disappointed.  You can see an interview with both when first dancing this production with PNB here.  George Oliveira also stood out in this performance through the determined glint of his aerial taunting Mercutio.  

 

I was delighted to see a different selection of artists from this fine company last night.  Things really came together and the audience voiced their excitement in extended curtain calls at the end.  The adulation was rife with a far greater volume than the reduced capacity might initially have indicated.  Canadian Stephan Bourgond's Romeo was voiced with a wonderfully humane accent throughout and Gabriele Corrado dazzled as Tybalt; a colt constantly wearing a perspective grin at the various challenges he obviously delighted in inspiring ... until that is he caught sight for himself of cruel - almost accidental - death of Christian Tworzyanki's Mercutio via the unwitting head of a puppet king's crowned rod.  Consciousness suddently slapped him in the face at that juncture.  The use of slow motion during his demise was ripe.  Throughout Corrado was nothing less than impactful and Mr. Tworzyanki wore the precision of his NYCB (of which he is recently late) zeal with deserved pride.  

 

While I was not always convinced that the conceit involving Friar Laurence was carried through as well as it might - especially at the end - I did so enjoy many of the ideas proffered through Jean-Christophe Mailot's oft inviting/intriguing marriage of the contemporary and balletic languages.   

 

I, too, would be most happy if Les Ballets de Monte-Caro might wend their way back to London in the not too distant future.  Of course, I will completely understand if they do not given the sad lack of support in terms of audience numbers.  

 

(As a side note it was lovely to see Luca Acri and Matthew Ball from the Royal Ballet in the audience on Saturday.)  

Edited April 26, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[Bruce Wall]

In reference to the above review you may like to watch Mr. Corrado dance a segement from MacMillan's R&J with the RB's electric M. Nunez as performed at La Scala here and there is a brief interview with him in English here. 

Edited April 26, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[Lynette H]

Interesting to see Alexis Oliveira as Friar Lawrence. I remembered him from English National Ballet some years back, when they did those UK split tours that BRB do now, where he appeared as Apollo. 

 

Slightly annoying that the ushers refused to give out cast lists unless you bought a programme, which they said was a company decision. There are good photos in the programme, but no details of the dancers. I would like to have known a bit more about our Mercutio and Tybalt (George Oiliveira, Alvaro Prieto) on Saturday afternoon. 

[nickwellings]

What a shame about the cast lists! 'They' did that at the recent ballet gala too.

I asked for a sheet and got given one though. Perhaps it depends of who you ask, or if it was matinee or not?? (Might be running low in evening?)

[alison]

The people I heard asking about cast sheets were told a very definite "no", so I hope that anyone attending twice brought their programme back with them.  Of course, since "credits" are shown at the beginning of the ballet I suppose you can argue that they were a little redundant anyway.

 

I enjoyed this on the whole, and like Bruce W I appreciated the scenery, costumes and lighting, although I'm afraid the latter didn't help much with seeing the dancers' faces, which may be why I didn't feel particularly involved with it.

 

BTW, are George Oliveira and Alexis Oliveira related (I realise it's a common surname)?  Alexis seems to have moved around quite a bit: since his ENB days, I've seen him with Aterballetto, Stuttgart and now Monte Carlo.