ABT at the Met, NYC - Romeo & Juliet

[Mayerling79]

I was passing through NYC in my recent trips, and was lucky to spot in the ABT program a matinee performance of Romeo & Juliet, casting the sweetheart Cory Stearns as Romeo and Gillian Murphy as Juliet.

After so many beautiful Mayerlings at the ROH, I must have been going through MacMillan withdrawal, so I booked myself a seat.

Having never seen Murphy or Stearns perform live, I was rather excited. The pair worked quite well together, playing it out like two adolescent lovers until a tragic unavoidable end. Alastair Macaulay at NYTimes said about Cory Stearns "he has what I want to call heroic sweetness" which I found very accurate. He is playful, young and innocent. Gillan Murphy was also very expressive and her acting moving yet simple.

 

There is a moment in act 3, when she sits on her bed and stares for a minute or so (nothing happens, it is very cinematographic!). We realise the thinking process that goes on in her mind and the decision she makes.

The PDDs were intense and beautiful, I was in particular moved by the dance of Romeo with a "dead" Juliet.

The only low point for me was probably the decor, which was very brown, heavy and cardboard-ish.

 

Oh and a MAJOR low point was the audience behavior!! Oh my god, some people were shameless and literally talking during the dancing. It was very disturbing and unnerving!

It made me love ROH even more! It's nice to be home.

 

Below is the rest of the ABT cast for this season's R&J at the Met.

 

 

                                         
 

Juliet

Romeo Mon. June 10^th @ 730 Diana Vishneva Marcelo Gomes Tues. June 11^th @ 730 Polina Semionova David Hallberg Wed. June 12^th @ 2 Hee Seo Roberto Bolle Wed. June 12^th @ 730 Xiomara Reyes Herman Cornejo Thurs. June 13^th @730 Paloma Herrera James Whiteside Fri. June 14^th @ 730 Natalia Osipova David Hallberg Sat. June 15^th @ 2 Gillian Murphy Cory Stearns Sat. June 15^th @ 8 Julie Kent Roberto Bol