Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing and Historically Important
Review: "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet"--William ShakespeareThe Royal Ballet's "Romeo and Juliet" is the most popular version of this ballet. The music is intriguing, and it was written by Serge Prokofiev. The promotional copy on the VCR dust jacket states that Prokofiev's score "has been recognized as the first great full-length ballet score since Tchaikowsky's classics." The choreography is by Kenneth MacMillan. The lead roles are danced by Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev--the most famous dance partnership of the twentieth century. Fonteyn's performance is good, but not great. It is important to keep in mind that she was born in 1919 and that she was nearing the end of a long career when this was filmed in 1966. (The best dancing of Juliet that I have ever seen is by Alessandra Ferri in a 1984 recording of the Royal Ballet; unfortunately, the exquisite Ferri didn't have nearly as talented dancers surrounding her.) In this production, there are not many women who dance on pointe: only Juliet and her six friends. All of the rest of the women in the cast wear character shoes. Nureyev does the lion's share of the dancing in this production. He dances solo; he dances with his two friends, Mercutio and Benvolio; he dances with Juliet; and he also dances with some other women, as well. When he receives the note from Juliet's nurse stating that Juliet wants to marry him, he whips off a series of extremely fast chaine turns. He can spin like a top! Nureyev is clearly in his prime here. Paul Czinner is responsible for turning this performance into a motion picture. The camera angles are very well thought out. Some reviewers have complained about the close-ups of Fonteyn's face. There are a few camera angles that show her age, but there are also some nice shots of her smiling. I particularly enjoy the close-up of her face while she is struggling to repel the advances of Paris (Derek Rencher), the rejected suitor. There are also many winning close-up shots of the other prominent dancers. The question of Juliet's age isn't pertinent to only this ballet, but it is an issue with many reviewers of the non-ballet, movie versions of "Romeo and Juliet," as well. This is something that each viewer needs to resolve for themselves. It doesn't bother me, however, because I think that Fonteyn's experience makes her good theatrically. There is a comprehensive analysis of this ballet by Robert Greskovic in his excellent book "Ballet 101: A Complete Guide to Learning & Loving the Ballet" (1998). He writes, "The major Soviet precursor to MacMillan's 'Romeo and Juliet' is Leonid Lavrovsky's 1940 Leningrad Kirov Ballet's. It's realism, however, was more in the vein of Social Realism than a 'verismo' realist one. Soviet Social Realism had an agenda that accentuated the corrupt or negative aspects of merchant and aristocratic characters while promoting the goodness and purity of innocent common folk.... "Physically and spiritually, MacMillan's 'Romeo' owes something to Lavrovsky's way with ballet. By 1965, Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet had toured the West with its staging of Lavrovsky's ballet and impressed audiences with its acrobatic aspects, especially with regard to partnering and lifts, as well as regarding such simple, forthright features as how ballerinas ran and leapt. Still, there was a chasteness and a kind of formal reserve in the fabric of Lavrovsky's aesthetic that MacMillan chose to bypass in favor of a more nakedly emotional effect. "It wasn't only from aesthetics bred behind the Iron Curtain that MacMillan departed. His ways of conceiving and working ballet theater also went in a direction different from that of his own mentors and predecessors in England, primarily Ashton. As we shall see, MacMillan's realistic interests didn't prevent him from having his dancers get literally if not figuratively 'down and dirty' with their dancing. His lack of reticence about letting his ballerina/heroine get dragged along the floor in moments of fulsome emotion prompted some naysaying along lines such as: 'In ballet, people make love on their feet, not on the floor.'" (pp. 450-451) Note: the Greskovic book, "Ballet 101," is also available through Amazon.com. Remember how it was mentioned earlier that Romeo dances with a number of "other women" in this production? Some of those women happen to be harlots--at least, that's what the credits call them. Romeo and his two friends meet up and dance with three harlots in the Market Place (act one, scene one). As the first act progresses, Romeo meets Juliet, and they dance the famous balcony scene together. But, in act two, we find Romeo back in the Market Place. He initially repels the advances of his favorite harlot, but before too long he is "dancing" with her again. Another interesting point involves the women's hair styles. In classical ballet, women usually wear their hair up, but in this production there are four exceptions to that rule: the three harlots and Juliet all wear their hair down. You can decide for yourself whether that is significant. This video is of historic importance because of the Fonteyn/Nureyev partnership. They were the ones who really made this ballet famous internationally. Although Fonteyn is past her prime, Nureyev is in great form here. The Royal Ballet is very strong theatrically, and the costumes and scenery are all top-quality. A one-star reduction in the overall rating of this title is deserved because of the character of MacMillan's Romeo.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing and Historically Important
Review: "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet"--William Shakespeare The Royal Ballet's "Romeo and Juliet" is the most popular version of this ballet. The music is intriguing, and it was written by Serge Prokofiev. The promotional copy on the VCR dust jacket states that Prokofiev's score "has been recognized as the first great full-length ballet score since Tchaikowsky's classics." The choreography is by Kenneth MacMillan. The lead roles are danced by Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev--the most famous dance partnership of the twentieth century. Fonteyn's performance is good, but not great. It is important to keep in mind that she was born in 1919 and that she was nearing the end of a long career when this was filmed in 1966. (The best dancing of Juliet that I have ever seen is by Alessandra Ferri in a 1984 recording of the Royal Ballet; unfortunately, the exquisite Ferri didn't have nearly as talented dancers surrounding her.) In this production, there are not many women who dance on pointe: only Juliet and her six friends. All of the rest of the women in the cast wear character shoes. Nureyev does the lion's share of the dancing in this production. He dances solo; he dances with his two friends, Mercutio and Benvolio; he dances with Juliet; and he also dances with some other women, as well. When he receives the note from Juliet's nurse stating that Juliet wants to marry him, he whips off a series of extremely fast chaine turns. He can spin like a top! Nureyev is clearly in his prime here. Paul Czinner is responsible for turning this performance into a motion picture. The camera angles are very well thought out. Some reviewers have complained about the close-ups of Fonteyn's face. There are a few camera angles that show her age, but there are also some nice shots of her smiling. I particularly enjoy the close-up of her face while she is struggling to repel the advances of Paris (Derek Rencher), the rejected suitor. There are also many winning close-up shots of the other prominent dancers. The question of Juliet's age isn't pertinent to only this ballet, but it is an issue with many reviewers of the non-ballet, movie versions of "Romeo and Juliet," as well. This is something that each viewer needs to resolve for themselves. It doesn't bother me, however, because I think that Fonteyn's experience makes her good theatrically. There is a comprehensive analysis of this ballet by Robert Greskovic in his excellent book "Ballet 101: A Complete Guide to Learning & Loving the Ballet" (1998). He writes, "The major Soviet precursor to MacMillan's 'Romeo and Juliet' is Leonid Lavrovsky's 1940 Leningrad Kirov Ballet's. It's realism, however, was more in the vein of Social Realism than a 'verismo' realist one. Soviet Social Realism had an agenda that accentuated the corrupt or negative aspects of merchant and aristocratic characters while promoting the goodness and purity of innocent common folk.... "Physically and spiritually, MacMillan's 'Romeo' owes something to Lavrovsky's way with ballet. By 1965, Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet had toured the West with its staging of Lavrovsky's ballet and impressed audiences with its acrobatic aspects, especially with regard to partnering and lifts, as well as regarding such simple, forthright features as how ballerinas ran and leapt. Still, there was a chasteness and a kind of formal reserve in the fabric of Lavrovsky's aesthetic that MacMillan chose to bypass in favor of a more nakedly emotional effect. "It wasn't only from aesthetics bred behind the Iron Curtain that MacMillan departed. His ways of conceiving and working ballet theater also went in a direction different from that of his own mentors and predecessors in England, primarily Ashton. As we shall see, MacMillan's realistic interests didn't prevent him from having his dancers get literally if not figuratively 'down and dirty' with their dancing. His lack of reticence about letting his ballerina/heroine get dragged along the floor in moments of fulsome emotion prompted some naysaying along lines such as: 'In ballet, people make love on their feet, not on the floor.'" (pp. 450-451) Note: the Greskovic book, "Ballet 101," is also available through Amazon.com. Remember how it was mentioned earlier that Romeo dances with a number of "other women" in this production? Some of those women happen to be harlots--at least, that's what the credits call them. Romeo and his two friends meet up and dance with three harlots in the Market Place (act one, scene one). As the first act progresses, Romeo meets Juliet, and they dance the famous balcony scene together. But, in act two, we find Romeo back in the Market Place. He initially repels the advances of his favorite harlot, but before too long he is "dancing" with her again. Another interesting point involves the women's hair styles. In classical ballet, women usually wear their hair up, but in this production there are four exceptions to that rule: the three harlots and Juliet all wear their hair down. You can decide for yourself whether that is significant. This video is of historic importance because of the Fonteyn/Nureyev partnership. They were the ones who really made this ballet famous internationally. Although Fonteyn is past her prime, Nureyev is in great form here. The Royal Ballet is very strong theatrically, and the costumes and scenery are all top-quality. A one-star reduction in the overall rating of this title is deserved because of the character of MacMillan's Romeo.
Rating:
Summary: Good but we need a new transfer
Review: According to the screen credits, this was made for film. Thankfully it does not go off on some filmitization experiment. Actually they might have been too conservative for everyone's liking since it looks exactly like a stage production, only with film like camera work. A greater number of people can comment on the ballet itself since it has been on VHS for some time. I will confine my comments mostly to issues with its reproduction. I agree with the Chicago person's comment that the quality of the transfer is not the best, and will go much further. Despite my criticisms, I hope everyone will keep in mind that I would recommend this as a great DVD to own. Unfortunately this DVD was not transferred from the film, but from a video of the film. This means that you will see scan lines and other video artefacts. Either because of this or poor DVD compression, the picture sharpness is muddy, and trails of movement are visible as on the Swan Lake DVD. Other problems that would be easy to restore are inconsistencies between exposures on the frames and frame shake (revealed by static objects appearing to vibrate). Hopefully, the next release will be digitally remastered directly from film with better quality compression, and digital remastering of the audio track to DTS. A plus would be if they restored the film print by removing the dust and scratches. DVD features were not entirely ignored, but could be significantly improved: "Chapter" Indexing: 18 points in the ballet can be accessed. This is much too few. Not just the scenes, but each particular dance should be indexed as with Kultur's Swan Lake DVD. Music History, Ballet Synopsis and Biographies of Nureyev, Fonteyn and Prokofiev have about 10 pages each, in text easily read from a television. There are no language features. At bare minimum, the synopsis for each act should be translated into the typical European languages as well as those of other ballet loving markets such as Chinese. Going further, a ballet commentary as a separate audio track would be especially welcome. Such commentaries are common on great films by Hitchcock or Bergman and could be done cheaply. Commentaries enrich the experience of audiences who are interested in gathering a fuller appreciation of this art form, and both features would pay the producers back since it would extend their market into larger audiences. Credits: Other Dancers: Margo Fonteyn, David Blair, Desmond Doyle, Julia Farrow, Michael Somes, Anthony Dowell, Gerd Larsen, Leslie Edwards, Christopher Newton, Ronald Hynd, Georgina Parkinson, Betty Kavanagh, Derek Rencher and artists of the Royal Ballet under the supervision of John Hart Choreography by Kenneth MacMillan, not Nureyev Scenery and Constumes: Nicholas Georgiadis Music by Royal Opera House Covent Garden Conducted by John Lanchbery Produced and Directed by Paul Czinner
Rating: 
Summary: Quantitative Evaluation
Review: Audio Merits:4/10; Video Merits:7/10; Scenario Merits:9/10; Overall Artistic Performance:10/10; Musical Merits:10/10; Cinematograhic Merits:8/10; DVD Extras:8/10; Recording Total Quality:9/10. Professor's Comment: The transfer process of the performance into digital medium is mediocre. However, Fonteyn and Nureyev exhibit a synergetic peak performance that makes the film a historical event. Perfect solos, magnificient partnership!
Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: Being a ballerina myself, any ballet is really worth it to me. Of course, these specific dancers are absolutely amazing at what they do, but I found it to be a little awkward at times with camera views and such. It does stay true to the story of Romeo and Juliet, and of course the orchestration is amazing. I truly suggest this to anyone interested in this aspect of the arts.
Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: Being a ballerina myself, any ballet is really worth it to me. Of course, these specific dancers are absolutely amazing at what they do, but I found it to be a little awkward at times with camera views and such. It does stay true to the story of Romeo and Juliet, and of course the orchestration is amazing. I truly suggest this to anyone interested in this aspect of the arts.
Rating: 
Summary: Sometimes magical, but often frustrating
Review: First, it should be said that every time Fonteyn and Nureyev danced together, there was a chemistry that transcended the choreography. Even with Fonteyn at the close of her amazing career in this production, those qualities of interpretation and connection shine through. Nureyev's dancing is solid, but as with many MacMillan ballets, he spends much time as a display pedestal for his partner. However, when Fonteyn, especially, is on screen, it is impossible to tear your eyes away: she truly was one of the most charismatic dancers of the last century. That said, I must confess to a great deal of frustration with this DVD. There was no effort made to re-master, as far as I can see. Also, as becomes obvious from the intro titles (with the edges chopped off), the coversion from PAL to NTSC was done haphazardly at best. In some scenes, dancers are partially cut-off from view, in others the frame speeds result in an almost jerky quality. Czinner, like many others in the past, tried very hard to turn the ballet production into a movie production, and fails miserably at times. Close-ups are filmed when MacMillan's spectacular corps choreography is occurring, so you miss some wonderful dancing. Often, the effort to capture "drama" for the movie screen ends up detracting terribly. One day, somebody will figure out that the best way to film ballet is to simply plop your camera in the best seat in the house with a wide angle lens and let it run. Would I purchase this again? Certainly. As a bit of history it has great value. However, I see no reason to spend the extra money on the DVD version -- it's no better than film, and the "extras" are nothing that you couldn't find elsewhere, and in a better format ("I am a Dancer", the VHS with Nureyev, comes to mind.) So save your DVD dollars and go for tape on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: fantastic dance
Review: I bought the dvd because I love Prokofiev and Nureyev so I was pretty sure the combination would be great. Is it ever. Margot Fonteyn is also exceptional. I have a version of Romeo & Juliet recorded from A&E network also the Royal Ballet from Covent Garden and must say I had my reservations about Juliet in this version because Alessandra (I forget the rest of her name)was such an innocent Juliet. I'm very glad I have this ballet but admit that I would like to have the later one as well to round out my collection. As far as I know the second isn't on dvd or vhs.
Rating:
Summary: Not great, but...
Review: I found it extremely disappointing that no attempt has been made to enhance the quality of this DVD. I also thought the direction was not the best--very little thought given to long, medium or close shots, and seemingly shot with only one camera. I was fortunate enough to see the real McCoy in its second year of production and this DVD does not capture the excitement, beauty or emotion of that performance. Should you buy it? Yes. In spite of it's shortcomings, it is an extraordinary record of an extraordinary dance team. And I don't mean just Fontayne and Nureyev. It is quite possibly the Royal Ballet at its best. Don't overlook David Blair, Monica Mason and Gerd Larson when you watch this one.
Rating:
Summary: An example of great taste
Review: I found it much harder to find a great video ballet tape than a audio musical recording. The former needs all the ingredient to be right to make it perfect: The choreography, the music, the dance skill, the costume...and the list goes on. Nureyev and Fonteyn's Romeo and Juliet is one of the ballet movie that has all the ingredients. Based on Shakespear and Prokofiev's masterpiece, McMillan's choreography fully conserved the dramatic intensity. Nureyev and Fonteyn's performance is a treat for anyone who is in love. The costume is dazzling! This is something hard to find in Russian productions. I highly recommend this tape to ballet fans and anyone that is hopelessly romantic.
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