Review: AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE'S 'ROMEO AND JULIET' at Kennedy Center

The star-crossed story of Romeo and Juliet has certainly kept is relevance in the 426 years since William Shakespeare premiered his enduring play. Endlessly reinterpreted on stage, screen and song ever since, its leading interpretation through dance came in the mid-20th century ballet from Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, whose other famed works included the ballet for "Cinderella" and "Peter and the Wolf."

Sir Kenneth McMillan first choreographed the piece for the Royal Ballet with no less than Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in the leads for its 965 London premiere. New York's American Ballet Theatre picked up his version 20 years later, premiering at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 1985.

Its return this week may be something of a tie-in for the nation's performing arts center's lingering 50th anniversary celebrations. But it's also a splendid thing to see on its own, even as a kind of relic.

With sumptuous Earth-toned costuming, in browns and paisleys (by Nicholas Georgiadis, who also did the set), here is one ballet where the lines of the human form are largely hidden beneath the lavish fabrics. The closest things to the kind of tights one is accustomed to seeing in ballet come on the male legs, beneath their tunics.

Following the precepts of the Russian "drambalet" (a term as wretched as today's "dramedy"), the story and the opera-like spectacle of a cast of dozens on an impressive set are as important as the movement.

And yet the story is very clearly told through the movement - along with Prokofiev's dramatic music, which, played by the the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, as conducted by ABT's David LaMarche, which included extra percussion as was the composer's intent, two guest mandolinists, and a tenor saxophone.

Even more people were on stage than in the orchestra pit, with the marketplace scenes especially populated - better not only to see the pulsing life of Verona, but also the divisions between the obviously feuding families the Montagues - in beiges - and the Capulets - in richer burgundies.

Each family makes a point of pride in their group dances, often ending in a shove or a dirty look at the other clan. Eventually, it also comes to some sword-fighting that is as exacting in the rhythms of the silvery weapons striking one another, as in their dance (no fight coordinator is listed, so let's add give further credit to McMillan's original choreography).

Smaller groupings of dancers emerge from these crowd showdowns; the most delightful are the three "harlots" on the Montague side, who on opening night were Isadora Loyola, Scout Forsythe and Alexandra Basmagy, whose movements were enhanced by fabulously upswept hair (I didn't see a hairdressing credit in the online program either; are we beginning to see the limitations of QR digital programs?).

The crowd scenes get an added pinch of realism by adding more seasoned cast members, not only in key roles, as Susan Jones' nurse and Alexi Agoudine's Friar Laurence, but for a few people doddering in the background of the busy marketplace.

This is an awful long way into a review to mention the lead dancers, but in the case of the American Ballet Theater, the roster is so rich in talent, they'll change for every performance of the Kennedy Center residency anyway, so whatever happened opening night will not likely be repeated in the run.

At any rate, the first night cast was indeed first rate, with a bit of a hometown flavor as well with Bethesda native Aran Bell as Romeo, whose every emotion is well telegraphed not only in his expression but his movement.(Recently named ABT artistic director Susan Jaffe and longtime former principal also hails from Bethesda).

Devon Teuscher, a principal since 2017, is perfect Juliet - extremely shy to begin, adamant at not wanting to marry the stiff Paris (Blaine Hoven) selected for her by her parents (the appropriately regal Zhong-Jing Fang and Roman Zhurbin). But Teuscher is also exuberant in her young love, with long extensions and hanging on her lover's body as if to make the two of them one.

That makes her all the more devastating at the work's powerful end, when she flails lifelessly in Romeo's anguished, ineffectual embrace.

The other standout role in the piece is that of Romeo's pal Mercutio, performed with athleticism by Carlos Gonzalez.

"Romeo and Juliet" requires a lot of scene-changing for a big ballet - seven different places in the three acts' 13 scenes - and Georgiadis' large sets, with seeming-stone stairways and big arches are further enhanced by Thomas Skelton's pinpoint light effects.

The set changes are usually accompanied by more Prokofiev as the curtains drop, but sometimes there's just silence as things fly up or in behind the scenes. Even for a long evening, it seems the pace quickens as the well-known tragedy advances to its awful conclusion.

Running time: Three hours, with two intermissions.

Photo credit: Devon Teuscher and Aran Bell in American Ballet Theatre's "Romeo and Juliet." Photo by Rosalie O'Connor.

American Ballet Theatre's "Romeo and Juliet" continues through Feb. 19 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets available online.