Monte Carlo Ballet in Maillot's Romeo & Juliette at Coliseum 23-25 April 2015

[Bruce Wall]

Don't know if this has been posted here before ... I've just noticed it now ... and tickets are currently on sale:

 

Following last year’s triumphant LAC; Swan Lake, the Monte Carlo Ballet returns to the London Coliseum with Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliette. Choreographed by acclaimed choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot, this beautiful interpretation captures the essence of what it means to be young and in love, and tells of the devastating tragedy that unfolds when tenderness and naivety is met with violence and pride.
 

Set to Prokofiev’s unforgettable score and set design by well renowned artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Maillot’s Romeo and Juliette is a treasured classic reimagined for a modern audience.
 

Romeo and Juliette
Ballet in 3 acts
Adapted from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Choreography: Jean-Christophe Maillot
Music: Sergueï Prokofiev
Set: Ernest Pignon-Ernest
Costumes: Jérôme Kaplan
Lighting: Dominique Drillot

 

[aileen]

Great! But isn't Northern Ballet doing this?

 

I can't wait to see what it's like. There will probably be some outré twist on the original story.

Edited January 25, 2015 by aileen

[Bruce Wall]

Great! But isn't Northern Ballet doing this?

 

I can't wait to see what it's like. There will probably be some outré twist on the original story.

 

Yes, but Northern Ballet appears only to be performing it in Edinburgh and Leeds.  (How lucky are those two fine cities!!)  How wonderful to be able to compare the two excellent companies in the same version.  Monte Carlo is, of course, the choreographer's own Company.  (How I wish this London showing was of The Taming of the Shrew Maillot has recently done for the Bolshoi.  I enjoyed the segments I saw by the Bolshoi of that on line but understand that the Coliseum may just have felt that would not sell many seats in London.  Perhaps next season the Bolshoi might do Shrew for the cinema audience .. but that may be a long commercial stretch too somehow - especially as this relay season seems to have been entirely called by Grigorovitch.) .... So refreshing too that the Maillot R&J only has one interval  .. and comes in at 2 hrs and 15 minutes.  Much appreciated by the long distance punters I'm sure

Edited January 25, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[Jan McNulty]

Here is the Coliseum link:

 

http://www.eno.org/whats-on/other/romeo-and-juliette

 

 

Yes NB are doing it in Edinburgh and Leeds.  I am seeing the first night in Edinburgh as well as some performances in Leeds.  Although they are currently the only 2 venues scheduled, it was supposed to be touring so it may be in the Autumn or even next year.

[aileen]

I feel that Taming of the Shrew is very difficult to pull off with modern audiences. I really didn't like it when I saw the Cranko version a couple of years ago. I found it ragingly sexist even though the subservience by Katherine (I think that's her name) at the end was supposed to be tongue in cheek. It made for uncomfortable viewing (for me).

[Jan McNulty]

I think the play is ragingly misogynistic full stop!  I thought the Cranko version merely reflected that, although the 2 performances I saw did have slightly different interpretations.

[aileen]

Janet, I wasn't suggesting that the ballet was more sexist than the play. The story told by the play is very sexist / misogynistic and rather unpalatable for many people these days.

[Pas de Quatre]

I'm going to disagree with you there - I don't think the original play is misogynist, particularly when given in full - the classic play within a play.  It is very tongue in cheek and to my mind illustrates that people really don't change across the centuries.  Most people are hoping to meet someone to love and are happiest when they have met their match - in all senses of the word!

[billboyd]

R&J - the play - is very far-fetched.

 

And these days the 'greatest love story ever told' is an illegal act.