Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet (普羅科耶夫: 羅密歐與茱麗葉)

Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet is one of the most endearing pieces of music he has written. It immortalizes one of the greatest love stories of all times first written of by Willliam Shakespeare in a drama of the same name in which two young lovers died because of a historical family feuds between two Veronese families, the Capulets and the Montagues in Renaissance Italy. Tchaikovsky too has written his own version of the ballet but last night I was able to see for the first time, a live performance of Prokofiev's 1938 version done by the famous American Ballet Theatre as choreagraphed by the very popular Sir Kenneth MacMillan.It gave me a much richer understanding of the nature of ballet music, which nowadays is often performed alone, without the ballet.  With the ballet, somehow, the music sounds much more moving. The prima donna role was originally supposed to be danced by Julie Kent but just before the performance was about to begin, we were told that she suffered an injury and her role was taken over by the Korean ballerina Hee So who would partner with Cory Stearns as Romeo.

The ballet was a fairly long 3 act affair: In Act I Scene 1  The Market Place, Romeo, a Montague who failed to win the love for Rosaline, was consoled by his friends Mercutio and Benvolio and got into a fight with Tybalt, a nephew of Capulet until stopped by Prince Verona; Scene 2, Juliet's afternoon in the Capulet house, when she played with her nurse after which she was presented by her parents to a suitor Paris; Scene 3, Outside the Capulet House when the guests arrived for a ball and Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio entered wearing masks so that Romeo might continue to woo Rosaline; Scene 4 at the Ballroom of the Capulets, Romeo was attracted by Juliet's dance but was ordered to leave by Tybalt but again Lord Capulet allowed him to stay;Scene 5 when Lady Capulet stoppedTybalt from pursing Romeo as he left, then the famous Scene 6 Juliet at her Balcony in a sleepless night, she was unable to forget Romeo but to her delight and surprise he appeared in the garden below. They declared their love for each other by another dance. In Act II Scene 1, when Romeo was looking a wedding procession and thinking of Juliet, he got a letter from her nurse in which Juliet told him that she would have him as her husband. He was overjoyed. Then In Act II Scene 2, they were secretly married at the Chapel and in Scene 3, there was another fight in which Tybalt killed Mercutio and Romeo avenged him. In Act III Scene 1 The Bedroom, Juliet's parents again appeared with Paris but Juliet would have none of him, her parents, not knowing that she was already married, got mad and threatened to disown her and Juliet had to seek help from the Friar Lawrence at the same monastery; in Scene 2, at the Chapel, Friar Lawrence gave Juliet a vial containing a potion which would help her to feign death. She took it at the family tomb expecting Romeo who would be tipped by Friar Lawrence to come during the night to take her away; in Scene 3, she was found apaprently lifeliess at the family tomb and in the following scene at the Capulet's family crypt, Romeo, not having got Friar Lawrence message and having got news of Juliet's death, entered disguised as a monk, found Paris there, killed him and then killed himself by swallowing poison. Then Juliet awoke, only to find Romeo already dead and proceeded to stab herself, leaving the stage with three corpses..

The performance was extremely well done: the action and the dances followed one another seamlessly from one scene to another. The mime ballet was blended into the action without any over-dramatization or overacting. Everything looked so natural. The atmosphere in general was one of subsued understatement, helped in no small measure by Nicolas Georgiadis's costume, predominantly in brown, yellow and dull red in the public scenes, which suffused everything with a feeling of warmth and the loose fitting flowing white shirt and dresses in the more private scenes, which may suggest the sense of personal freedom. The set was realistic but not burdensomely so. And they made excellent use of stage lighting which, thanks to Lighting Designer Thomas Skelton, was simply superb.The music by HK's Sinfonietta under the Charles Barker was totally unobstrusive. The hero and heroine acted and danced flawlessly. I particularly like the performance by Hee Soo, whose body seems completely boneless and who acted and danced the part of the vivacious lovelorn Veronese lassie with incredible innocence, sensitivity, feeling and perfection. All in all, a most unforgettable visual and musical experience.  But one could not help seeing in the production shadows of the famous Nureyev and Fontyn version of the ballet done by Royal Ballet decades ago. This is meant as a compliment, not a criticism.