Romeo & Juliet at American Ballet Theatre

(American Ballet Theatre's production of Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo & Juliet. Photo by Gene Schiavone.)

Sat, July 11 - Romeo & Juliet isn't one of my favorite ballets. I find it over-the-top and padded with way too much boring filler. I often feel like I should go down the street for a coffee break during the whole of Act 2, where virtually interesting happens dance-wise (40 minutes of piddly crowd dances that are mostly uninteresting to watch). And, there are cheesy sword fights where the corps runs around waving tinny, clanking swords, and all manner of groan-worthy, melodramatic mime - lots of hands to foreheads, leaning backwards with big, sad eyes.

Not all of it is the fault of the choreographer: the crowd dances, the overdramatic swooning and the angry Capulet stomping are all built into Prokofiev's giant three-act score. I have not seen a ballet production of Romeo & Juliet that I haven't been bored at, and most choreographers seem hemmed in by the structure of score itself. That and the Romeo & Juliet story is so overdone in Western theater that the it no longer holds much romantic magic in my mind. Perhaps part of my reaction stems from R&J fatigue.

All of that being said, I do visit Romeo & Juliet every once in awhile because it can be interesting to see dancers navigate the dramatic and choreographic challenges of the title roles. The right dancers make the little bits of interesting choreography transcendent. Kenneth MacMillan's version, which is the version that American Ballet Theatre and the Royal Ballet dance, has a balcony pas de deux with soaring lifts and hot-blooded passion, as well as a few dramatic scenes in Act 3 that are particularly affecting.

At this performance, I got much pleasure out of seeing Gillian Murphy as Juliet and David Hallberg as Romeo. For me, they are two of ABT's most interesting house principals (the ones who stay with the company year-round, as opposed to the international stars that only swoop in for the company's New York spring season). Hallberg threw himself in the character and wore all of his emotions on his sleeve. His Romeo was one who seemed to do everything impulsively, and he threw himself into every situation head first. Hallberg is also a gorgeous dancer, so Romeo's dance moments were particularly nice to watch. I've seen Murphy mostly in technique driven roles, so it was interesting to see her in a role where acting is more important. I thought she was wonderful here - she has a very unaffected way of dancing and acting, so that no mannerisms clouded her performance. She was earnest, clear, and very moving in Juliet's very important final scenes. As a pair, the two of them matched each other wonderfully, and their dancing was a joy in the balcony pas de deux.

I wasn't able to catch some of the starrier pairs that American Ballet Theatre put on during the week, at other performances of Romeo. But I'm not sure that I would have been able to sit through several performances of this ballet in just one week. While it was good to see Murphy and Hallberg here, I think I'm done with Romeo & Juliet for at least another few years.

Inset: Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg, my photo.