Lot Essay
ROMEO AND JULIET
Ballet in three acts and thirteen scenes based on Shakespeare's most celebrated and most romantic tragedy
ORIGINAL PRODUCTION
Composer: Serge Prokofiev
Choreographer: Ivo Psota
Designer: V. Skru*s*ny (sets and costumes)
Première: December 30, 1938, Brno, Czechoslavakia
NEW PRODUCTION
Choreographer: Kenneth MacMillan
Designer: Nicholas Georgiadis (sets and costumes)
Company: The Royal Ballet
Première and
Nureyev's debut: February 9, 1965, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, with Fonteyn as Juliet
NEW PRODUCTION
Choreographer: Rudolf Nureyev
Designer: Ezio Frigerio (sets and costumes)
Company: The London Festival Ballet
Première: June 2, 1977, with Nureyev as Romeo and Patricia Ruanne as Juliet
The première of Kenneth MacMillan's highly original and interpretative production of Romeo and Juliet on February 9, 1965 brought an audience response even greater than that accorded to the debut of the Fonteyn-Nureyev partnership almost exactly three years earlier in 1962, with forty-three curtain calls and an applause stretching to forty minutes. The production was a major factor in the Royal Ballet's subsequent tour to the United States. It was also the work with which Fonteyn and Nureyev made their last full performance together on the stage of the Royal Opera House on January 10, 1976.
The power, disciplined structure and sensitivity of the Prokofiev score was ideally suited to Nureyev's dramatic skills. His own production, first staged in 1977, enjoyed much success when presented with various companies in subsequent years.
Ballet in three acts and thirteen scenes based on Shakespeare's most celebrated and most romantic tragedy
ORIGINAL PRODUCTION
Composer: Serge Prokofiev
Choreographer: Ivo Psota
Designer: V. Skru*s*ny (sets and costumes)
Première: December 30, 1938, Brno, Czechoslavakia
NEW PRODUCTION
Choreographer: Kenneth MacMillan
Designer: Nicholas Georgiadis (sets and costumes)
Company: The Royal Ballet
Première and
Nureyev's debut: February 9, 1965, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, with Fonteyn as Juliet
NEW PRODUCTION
Choreographer: Rudolf Nureyev
Designer: Ezio Frigerio (sets and costumes)
Company: The London Festival Ballet
Première: June 2, 1977, with Nureyev as Romeo and Patricia Ruanne as Juliet
The première of Kenneth MacMillan's highly original and interpretative production of Romeo and Juliet on February 9, 1965 brought an audience response even greater than that accorded to the debut of the Fonteyn-Nureyev partnership almost exactly three years earlier in 1962, with forty-three curtain calls and an applause stretching to forty minutes. The production was a major factor in the Royal Ballet's subsequent tour to the United States. It was also the work with which Fonteyn and Nureyev made their last full performance together on the stage of the Royal Opera House on January 10, 1976.
The power, disciplined structure and sensitivity of the Prokofiev score was ideally suited to Nureyev's dramatic skills. His own production, first staged in 1977, enjoyed much success when presented with various companies in subsequent years.