|
Back
A stunning Renaissance painting comes to life München
Nationaltheater
06/20/2025 - & June 21, 29, July 2, 2025
Romeo and Juliet
John Cranko (choreography), Sergei Prokofiev (music)
Laurretta Summerscales*/Ksenia Shevtsova/Madison Young (Juliet), Jakob Feyferlik*/Julian MacKay/Osiel Gouneo (Romeo), Yonah Acosta*/António Casalinho (Mercutio), Florian Ulrich Sollfrank*/Robin Strona (Tybalt), Ariel Merkuri*/Tommaso Beneventi (Benvolio), Severin Brenhuber*/Sergio Navarro/Matteo Dilaghi (Duke Paris), Norbert Graf (Count Capulet), Séverine Ferrolier (Countess Capulet), Stefan Moser*/Zoltán Manó Beke (Count Montague), Chelsea Thronson (Countess Montague), Caroline Geiger (Juliet’s nurse), Bayerisches Staatsballett
Bayerisches Staatsorchester, David Garfort (conductor)
Jürgen Rose (sets & costumes), Georgette Tsinguirides (rehearsal director)
(© Serghei Gherciu)
Some ballet productions are too sumptuous to abandon. Considering it’s been in storage for a half century, Bayerisches Staatsballett has kept this production in amazingly fresh condition. Indeed, those unfamiliar with its history may think it brand new. Jürgen Rose’s dazzling sets and costumes are strikingly authentic for the epoch. It’s clear they were inspired by the art of the Italian Renaissance, such as Benozzo Gozzoli (1421‑1497), Botticelli (1445‑1510), Raphael (1483‑1520), Titian (1488‑1576), Caravaggio (1571‑1610), Sofonisba Anguissola (1532‑1625), and Artemesia Gentileschi (1593‑1653). Though elaborate, the sets were not massive and had a lightness in harmony with the dancers’ graceful movements. The material of the dancers’ beautiful costumes looked elegant and authentic. One felt transported to fourteenth century Verona.
Additionally, the postures and expressions of the dancers were true to the epoch. This was especially true of Tybalt, danced brilliantly by Florian Ulrich Sollfrank, who looked arrogant, supercilious and menacing. There was a huge distinction between patricians (the Capulets and the Montagues) and the plebians (people at the market, servants and entertainers). Visually, this was a stunning ballet production.
The ballet recounts Shakespeare’s 1597 play, itself derived from a novella by Matteo Bandello (1480‑1562), in a simple fashion, more logical than the familiar operatic adaptations by either Bellini or Gounod. It shortens certain episodes such as the secret wedding, and adds divertimenti necessary to the medium of ballet, such as long intervals at the market with town folk frolicking, flirting and enjoying jovial skirmishes. Another part of Prokofiev’s storyline, not in the operatic accounts, is the carnival in Act II that precedes the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio that leads to the latter’s demise. Prokofiev uses the carnival to introduce a joviality and insouciance that renders Mercutio and eventually Tybalt’s deaths more tragic. Cranko accentuates that intent with an elaborate, almost acrobatic choreography. The costumes for the clowns, some intentionally anachronistic, were inspired by Picasso’s clown paintings, while others are magnificently commedia dell’arte.
Prokofiev’s music to the dances by the populace at the marketplace and during carnival are erroneously inspired by Southern Italian melodies, a justifiable pretext to delight the audience with beautifully choreographed tarantella‑like dances and jumps.
The dances for the nobles were magnificently choreographed, their beauty enhanced by the elegantly opulent costumes. Cranko’s choreography for the “Dance of the Knights” was the most glorious I’ve ever seen. The power of this dance is thanks to Prokofiev’s magnificent music, so austere and bellicose that it augurs a catastrophe, despite the beauty of the music and the dance. Conductor David Garfort made the most of these dramatic moments in Prokofiev’s score. He was also able to accentuate the lyricism of Romeo and Juliet’s pas de deux as well as the tragic final moments of the ballet.
Friar Lorenzo’s simple dwelling contrasted with the elegance of the Capulet’s palatial home. Oddly, the vegetation around his chapel was inspired by the paintings of post-impressionist Henri Rousseau (1844‑1910), or Le Douanier, whose style is often described as primitive or naïf. This was certainly intentional as an indication of a certain innocence, a clever idea.
The two lead soloists were well chosen: Laurretta Summerscales’s Juliet captured a delicate innocence, accentuated by her hesitant movements, especially in the first act. Jakob Feyferlik’s Romeo was almost as carefree as his mates, Mercutio and Benvolio. Once he falls in love with Juliet, there is a noticeable change in his posture and movements. Summerscales and Feyferlik were both brilliant technically and also well matched, as far as height and especially their interplay as dance partners. Summerscales’s delicacy, achieved by hand movements, contrasted beautifully with Freyferlik’s virile agility.
Other dancers who were particularly impressive were Yonah Acosta as Mercutio and Séverine Ferrolier as Countess Capulet. Acosta managed to portray Mercutio perfectly: jovial, carefree and naughty. His relentless teasing of Tybalt and other Capulets delighted the audience. Cranko superbly choreographed the duel scene with Tybalt. Acosta would retreat after each attack to kiss a girl and flirt with another before going back to his duel. Even when mortally wounded, he remained debonair to the last, teasing Tybalt. Rendering Mercutio this sympathetic intensified the sadness of his death.
Though the role of Countess Capulet is not technically demanding, Ferrolier is a truly expressive dancer who understands the importance of facial expressions in dance, aided by Cranko’s intelligent choreography. When Juliet holds her dress, pleading not to marry Count Paris, the way Ferrolier took her daughter’s hand off the dress was bone‑chilling. She may as well have been Juliet’s wicked stepmother.
Few productions are as elaborately choreographed as this, with such attention paid to the movements of all characters, principal and secondary. In addition, with the technical level of the dancers and the support of a first‑rate orchestra, this Romeo and Juliet was truly magnificent. It’s a blessing that Bayerisches Staatsballett preserved it for over fifty years. May it be for eternity.
Ossama el Naggar
|
