United Kingdom Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet: Dancers of The Royal Ballet, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Koen Kessels (conductor), Broadcast live (directed by Ross MacGibbon from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 20.3.2025. (JPr)
As a ballet Romeo and Juliet needs little introduction whether in Rudolf Nureyev’s fate and death-haunted version for English National Ballet (long overdue a revival) or Kenneth MacMillan’s celebrated – and much more romantic – production for The Royal Ballet which premiered sixty years ago in February 1965 with Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn in the title roles.
For those who need to ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare’ the ballet opens ‘In fair Verona’ during the Renaissance where the two leading noble families, the Capulets and Montagues, are sworn enemies. A young Montague, Romeo, declares his love for the haughty Rosaline. Together with his friends, Mercutio and Benvolio, they quarrel with Lord Capulet’s nephew, Tybalt, and blood is soon split. Escalus, the Prince of Verona, orders the families to end to their hostility, and reluctantly everyone down swords. In disguise Romeo attends the Capulets’ ball still pursuing Rosaline. Meanwhile, Juliet, a pubescent Capulet and Tybalt’s cousin, has been introduced to her prospective fiancé Paris, but at the ball she meets Romeo and there is an instant attraction. With the help of the sympathetic Friar Laurence and Juliet’s conspiratorial nurse, the lovers secretly marry. Events take their tragic turn when Mercutio is killed fighting Tybalt and is avenged by Romeo who, as a result, is then forced into exile. The deaths, of course, have not yet ended, though MacMillan was particularly keen that there should be no reconciliation between the feuding and grieving families as in the original Shakespeare.
It may seem unnecessary to repeat a well-known tale, but it highlights the exceptional storytelling – up to a point – we get in MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, even in its 547th outing at Covent Garden. It is not the first time I have commented that some of the acting was worthy of straight theatre. (This is not surprising since MacMillan and his designer Nicholas Georgiadis were inspired by Franco Zeffirelli’s production of the play at the Old Vic in 1960-1961.) It is possibly heresy to say that there are now some obvious longueurs and it is much too long for the story it is telling. Some of the time MacMillan lavished on the Act I opening with its boisterousness, swordplay and its aftermath could have been used to better tell the story at the end of the ballet. Curiously (why?) MacMillan fails to let the audience know how Romeo never receives Friar Laurence’s message about the sleeping potion he gave Juliet: Nureyev shows us this and so completes the story more appropriately.
Georgiadis’s sumptuous designs have retained – down six decades – a solid three-dimensionality and evocation of Italian Renaissance frescoes which have come to life. Perhaps the daytime events didn’t look as sunny as they might once have in John B. Read’s (otherwise) subtly atmospheric lighting; or is that false memory or simply how it looked on the screen. Reflecting on my past reaction to this Romeo and Juliet it seems that – consummate dancing notwithstanding – the company acts with great commitment and spirit more in this ballet than possibly any other. The corps de ballet roistered appropriately with considerable enthusiasm for MacMillan’s more bawdy skirt-lifting moments and that sword fighting was, as before, some of the best I have ever seen on any stage. The sight of Fumi Kaneko’s tears glistening her eyes as Romeo departs in Act III will live long in the memory: as will the despair on Vadim Muntagirov’s face in the tomb scene as he cradles Juliet’s lifeless body. Kaneko is so impressively limp that she appears to have no limb bones! These are just a few observations of dramatically credible performances which – for a ballet – were quite outstanding. However, I wonder how many in the opera could have seen the subtle characterisations without binoculars?
My own history with Romeo and Juliet at Covent Garden goes back to 1977 (that was number 146, where has the time gone?) but I will not look back too much and instead celebrate the ‘School of 2025’. A baleful looking Ryoichi Hirano was the lesser of the actors we saw and merely a one-dimensional pantomime baddie whose threat to Romeo and his chums was blatantly clear. Clearly a Romeo-in-waiting, Francisco Serrano definitely has the ‘wow factor’ I would like to see even more of from The Royal Ballet’s male dancers and is clearly one to watch. Serrano’s irrepressible rascally Mercutio was portrayed with a cocksure élan whilst Giacomo Rovero was rather in his shade but was still a confident Benvolio. (One trip down memory lane sorry, since it was as Mercutio that I saw Nureyev, alongside Sylvie Guillem and Jonathan Cope, dance live for the only time in MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet. That was in a 1990 gala given for the benefit of – and homage to – Dame Margot Fonteyn; he had missed that first Romeo and Juliet I saw in 1977.)
Annette Buvoli was a snooty Rosaline, with Itziar Mendizabal, Leticia Dias, Mica Bradbury as the very lively, provocative harlots. Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød was the stoic Paris, a role that MacMillan seems to have neglected in his staging, whilst Daichi Ikarashi displayed considerable athleticism leading the Mandolin Dance. As ever this staging allows for two outstanding vignettes: first from Christina Arestis as the imperious Lady Capulet whose mourning over the dead Tybalt was heart-rending – if overblown – and the other from Olivia Cowley as a caring, compassionate, surprisingly frisky, and rather more youthful than sometimes, Nurse.
This ballet of course relies on its leads to be successful, and Fumi Kaneko was absolutely outstanding as Juliet and goes straight to the top of the list as one of the very best of the many I have seen. It was Lynn Seymour I saw in 1977 followed by others, notably Lesley Collier, Miyako Yoshida and Marianela Núñez (plus all those I have seen in Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet for English National Ballet). In the best performance I have seen Kaneko give she was totally convincing as the teenage Capulet and subsequently in her burgeoning love for Romeo. Kaneko’s arms were so wonderfully poetic and lyrical, her movement so agile, her jumping so light and easy, her turns so fast and her feet so quick (the rapid bourrées!). Kaneko showed Juliet’s coming-of-age with superb artistry and some of her even better moments were when she was not even dancing; for instance, as Juliet first encounters Romeo the audience can almost feel her visceral reaction. Compare this to Juliet’s resistance to her father’s bullying in the third act and how she barely looks at Paris in her distress at being forced to marry him. Previously, Lord Capulet brutally slapped his daughter but thankfully this is no more, and Juliet covers her ears attempting to shut out her father’s hectoring. It was here that Kaneko’s Juliet reached an even more exalted level with her character having gone the gamut of emotions from girly glee in Act I to a more mature desperation over her plight.
It is well-known how MacMillan created the role of Romeo on Christopher Gable yet many of the fussy, intricate steps have subsequently become forever associated with Nureyev. I saw him dance the role several times, on film, of course, in MacMillan’s choreography, but mainly in his own production. For those who saw Nureyev in his prime it is nearly impossible for anyone who follows in his ‘footsteps’ to make the role his own. Perhaps Vadim Muntagirov has now got as close as anyone to equalling my memories. Your eyes are attracted to this immensely likeable dancer even if he is just interacting with someone on the fringes of the stage. Maybe he could still do with a little more of Serrano’s obvious self-assurance as Mercutio and bring more hot-bloodedness to his early dancing instead of a boyish brio. The biggest problem – and what a one to have as a leading dancer – is that as fearsome as MacMillan’s steps are reputed to be, Muntagirov’s remarkable technique makes it look so (too?) easy! Nevertheless during the balcony scene it is obvious how his Romeo and Kaneko’s Juliet uninhibitedly yield to their innermost desires and when Muntagirov finally kisses Kaneko (his partner in real-life) there was a palpable frisson. Muntagirov is suitably vengeful in clashing swords with Tybalt in Act II, as well as in showing that heartbreak at the end of the ballet. It goes without saying – but I will – that the security and strength of his partnering made Kaneko’s Juliet look the best she possibly could.
Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly MacMillan’s masterpiece and proves a splendid showcase for the current encouraging health of The Royal Ballet. Certainly, this performance was an astonishing company achievement and was underpinned by the playing from the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under Koen Kessels, music director of The Royal Ballet and Dutch National Ballet. I was glad that Kessels never indulged the dancers during all their frequent hyperactivity on the stage in his magnificent account – at least as heard through cinema loudspeakers – of Prokofiev’s vibrant and evocative score.
A final question: does The Royal Ballet continue to revive Romeo and Juliet with the same choreography, the same sets and in the same – and sometimes the 1965 original – costumes, for a further 10, 20, 30 years and more? Comments please.
Jim Pritchard
Featured Image: Vadim Muntagirov as Romeo and Fumi Kaneko as Juliet © Tristram Kenton
Production:
Choreography – Kenneth MacMillan
Staging – Julie London and Christopher Saunders
Designer – Nicholas Georgiadis
Lighting – John B. Read
Rehearsal Director – Christopher Saunders
Staging and Artistic Supervisor for the MacMillan Estate – Laura Morera
Cast included:
Juliet – Fumi Kaneko
Romeo – Vadim Muntagirov
Mercutio – Francisco Serrano
Tybalt – Ryoichi Hirano
Benvolio – Giacomo Rovero
Paris – Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød
Lord Capulet – Bennet Gartside
Lady Capulet – Christina Arestis
Escalus Prince of Verona – Harris Bell
Rosaline – Annette Buvoli
Nurse – Olivia Cowley
Friar Laurence / Lord Montague – Thomas Whitehead
Lady Montague – Lara Turk