Bww Reviews: Ballet in Cinema From Emerging Pictures Presents ROMEO AND JULIET

The Bolshoi's production of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet is, in the words of Rodgers and Hammerstein, "A Puzzlement." Big, sprawling, clashing swords, crying on the floor, it just fails to come to life.

The history of Prokofiev's opus would make a great Ph.D. dissertation. Moreover, Prokofiev's story itself is a fascinating look into stress, humiliation and cruelty of the Stalin regime. Most people put Hitler at the top of the most hated and feared leaders of the twentieth century, but the mass murders and starvations that Stalin inflicted on millions of his own countrymen should also give him a place at the top of the list.

Prokofiev first broached the subject of the ballet to the Kirov Theatre (now back to its original title, Mariinsky) in 1934, just two years before he made his fatal mistake of returning permanently to Mother Russia at the height of Stalin's purges. Unfortunately, it was rejected, at which point Prokofiev signed a contract with the Bolshoi for the ballet's production. Once completed and played for the authorities, it was rejected as being undanceable-as if they hadn't heard the ballet music that Shostakovich wrote, even if his music was denounced by Stalin as not being up to Soviet realism standards, meaning memorable tunes that people could easily recognize.

Prokofiev was no fool; imperious, sarcastic, cynical, yes, but smart. He knew he had written one of the best ballet scores up to that time, so he produced two orchestral suites and a set of ten piano pieces that were all performed in Russia in 1936 and 1937 to enthusiastic notices. The Kirov changed its mind, and in 1940 presented the ballet, with choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky, and Konstantin Sergeyev as Romeo and Galina Ulanova as Juliet. It received enthusiastic notices, but with Hitler signing a non-aggression pact with Stalin, and later invading Russia 1 ½ years later, it had a very short run.

After World War II, with the production at the Bolshoi in 1946, the release of the Lavrovsky movie version, and the Bolshoi's visit to London and New York, Romeo and Juliet gained momentum. John Cranko staged a production in 1962, Frederick Ashton in 1956, Kenneth MacMillan in 1965, John Neumeier in 1971, Rudolf Nureyev in 1977, Yuri Grigorovich in 1978, Peter Martins in 2007, Mark Morris in 2008 and Alexei Ratmansky in 2011, and probably another 50 that I'm not even relating. Probably the most famous adaptation known here in the United States is West Side Story, which bears as much resemblance to Romeo and Juliet as I do to the Pope, but when you have Chita Rivera dancing, does it really matter?

Grigorovich choreographed a sumptuous production at the Paris Opera in 1978. In his own words: "The decision that the designer Simon Virsaladze and I had come up with was unusual even for us: the world of Shakespeare's tragedy became extremely abstract, its colours were neither the colours of the usually adopted optimistic Renaissance perception, nor pure ballet colours, softened by theatrical romanticism. No, it was all about black, the colour of general tragedy, and not much else. The black velvet served as the background for individual details. The world was generalized, cleared of everyday matters. Only the symphony of love remained. Later we found out that a certain French artist had produced Romeo and Juliet in the same way, by liberating the stage of any details that were not connected with the main theme, the development of love between the leading characters."

Sounds great, and from what I've read it most certainly was. But, in 2010, he decided to revise this production for the Bolshoi. And quite a revision. It is dark, somber and devoid of any humanity. This is reflected in the physical production-no scenery except for a red curtain upstage and a few set pieces. We could be anywhere.

Grigorovich has changed the order of the Prokofiev music, opening with a thrilling fight sequence in which the Capulets and Montagues really battle it out with swords and daggers. But then Grigorovich seems to have changed his mind. He seems to be saying to himself, "Wow, what a knockout that was. But I have to deal with two characters I'm not particularly interested in."

To say the least. The characterizations of Romeo and Juliet lack passion; more to the point, they lack humanity. Grigorovich gives them a lot of steps to do, which they execute brilliantly, but what's the point. The pair of star crossed lovers never connect.

Grigorovich has given his most realized characterization to Mercutio and, especially, Tybalt. I don't think I have ever seen a more incensed, hateful and crazed Tybalt than the one danced by Mikhail Lobukhin. His final kiss off to Mercutio, taking his right hand to his mouth and miming a spit in the face is one of finest moments I have ever seen in a Romeo and Juliet.

Alexander Volchkov as Romeo and Anna Nikulina as Juliet danced beautifully, but when you dance banality, it is hard to make a real valued judgment. And when Tybalt is the star of the production, you know there is something rotten in the state of Verona.

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