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The revival of the classically choreographed version of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet by senior choreographer Kenneth MacMillan enjoyed a phenomenal success at La Scala, Milan, in January 2000: it was the first time that Alessandra Ferri and Angel Corella, the acclaimed stars of the American Ballet Theatre, had danced together on stage.
Hailed by the Italian press as the “new star couple”, they both brought to their roles the youthfulness and innocence reflected in Prokofiev’s music: Juliet, the young, inexperienced adolescent girl who puts all her faith in her feelings of love and undergoes the heights of passion as well as the depths of despair, and Romeo, the carefree young man certain of his feelings as a lover, ready to turn the established order on its head as a result, and knowing no bounds in his love for Juliet.
The intensive role-play of the two protagonists turns the lovers’ tragic end into a disaster that we experience with them, transcending the conventions of the story’s familiar and thus predictable close.
© Mélanie Unseld
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