Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet / Nagano, Lyon Opera Ballet

Rating:
Summary: The full five stars - MORE like this one
Review: Agree with previous five-star reviewer. We all weep buckets each time we see the prolonged lovers' death scene, in which Juliet hurls herself relentlessly at the dead guy, trying eventually almost to crawl inside of him. Our only question is, where can we find more DVDs featuring this choreographer and dance company? Conductor Kent Ngano, who always seems to be in the middle of great musical projects, will soon replace Charles Dutoit as artistic director for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Maybe he'll bring similar works to that part of the world. Here's hoping.

Rating:
Summary: Romance is dead
Review: Don't pick up this DVD expecting to see a classical rendition of this famous tale...you will be sorely disappointed. The Lyon Opera Ballet's "Romeo and Juliet" is a hard-edged, sterile, and chilly retelling of one of the most famous love stories in history. Angelin Preljocal's choreography is described on the box as "startling", and that much certainly applies --- the choreography is decidedly modern, with not a pointe shoe in sight. The problem is, it doesn't seem to fit the music.

Let's look at the "Balcony Scene" as an example. If you've ever seen a production of the original Kenneth MacMillan choreography, you'll remember the soaring lifts and sense of giddy abandonment that accompanies Prokofiev's exquisite score. Don't look for that here. The scene starts as Romeo slits an armed guard's throat on a catwalk. Juliet sheds her oversized white shirt to reveal what looks like bike shorts and an elongated corset with bizarrely accented nipples (?!) as Romeo enters. The music takes flight but our lovers remain obstinately earthbound, groveling, stomping, and flailing in a pas de deux that more often resembles a violent rape than the tender meeting of smitten young lovers. In one repeated motif, Romeo tries to fling Juliet's limp arms around his neck several times, only to have them drop bonelessly down again. The Kirov this is not.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that I've never liked modern dance to begin with, and this production did nothing to change my mind. The dancers aren't BAD, mind you; watch for some stunning feats of agility and strength. In her first entrance, Pascale Doye (Juliet) performs a forward bend into arabesque and rises slowly onto half-toe, then does several passes before moving into an agonizingly slow developpe a la seconde, again rising to half-toe with nary a wobble. (Also, watch for the German shepherd later in the ballet.) It's just that this production is murky and cold, and it's hard to tell what's going on at times. Still, if you enjoy avant-garde choreography you might want to give this one a look. But if you don't, steer clear.

Rating:
Summary: Romance is dead
Review: Don't pick up this DVD expecting to see a classical rendition of this famous tale...you will be sorely disappointed. The Lyon Opera Ballet's "Romeo and Juliet" is a hard-edged, sterile, and chilly retelling of one of the most famous love stories in history. Angelin Preljocal's choreography is described on the box as "startling", and that much certainly applies --- the choreography is decidedly modern, with not a pointe shoe in sight. The problem is, it doesn't seem to fit the music.

Let's look at the "Balcony Scene" as an example. If you've ever seen a production of the original Kenneth MacMillan choreography, you'll remember the soaring lifts and sense of giddy abandonment that accompanies Prokofiev's exquisite score. Don't look for that here. The scene starts as Romeo slits an armed guard's throat on a catwalk. Juliet sheds her oversized white shirt to reveal what looks like bike shorts and an elongated corset with bizarrely accented nipples (?!) as Romeo enters. The music takes flight but our lovers remain obstinately earthbound, groveling, stomping, and flailing in a pas de deux that more often resembles a violent rape than the tender meeting of smitten young lovers. In one repeated motif, Romeo tries to fling Juliet's limp arms around his neck several times, only to have them drop bonelessly down again. The Kirov this is not.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that I've never liked modern dance to begin with, and this production did nothing to change my mind. The dancers aren't BAD, mind you; watch for some stunning feats of agility and strength. In her first entrance, Pascale Doye (Juliet) performs a forward bend into arabesque and rises slowly onto half-toe, then does several passes before moving into an agonizingly slow developpe a la seconde, again rising to half-toe with nary a wobble. (Also, watch for the German shepherd later in the ballet.) It's just that this production is murky and cold, and it's hard to tell what's going on at times. Still, if you enjoy avant-garde choreography you might want to give this one a look. But if you don't, steer clear.

Rating:
Summary: to die for, one of my top 10 performances of thousands..
Review: I had looked forward to seeing this production - or ANY production - of Prokofiev's masterpiece but the intrusive and clangorous intrusions into Prokofiev's score by a "composer" by the name of Goran Vejvoda utterly ruined the experience for me.

Nagano's conducting of the superb Lyon Opera Orchestra is exemplary, as usual, but the additions to a fully-realised score of genius by Prokofiev were an affront to good taste and dramatic sensibility.

The dancing is above average but it is truly unfortunate that Goran Vejvoda was allowed to destroy and make hackneyed the superb score of Serge Prokofiev.

Timothy Wingate, Ottawa, Canada

Rating:
Summary: to die for, one of my top 10 performances of thousands..
Review: I have seen thousands of dance performances of all kinds (as an usher, for free), and have seen this ballet LIVE twice. Both times I could not stop weeping. Preljocaj is a genius of choreography who captures the ecstasy and agony of love and death almost/probably more then any other choreographer. When Juliet discovers what she thinks is Romeo's dead body she runs across the stage and flings herself at it, trying to reanimate him, and then collapses in grief, rolling down his legs and across the stage. As an ER nurse who has been with many people when they died, and at other excruciating moments, I can tell you that Preljocaj understands the soul of such moments. I have also done live voiceovers for his dance films, and met him and talked about this. He is one of the greats of all time. His dances for film-only, not widely available, are also revelatory fo deep human emotions. If I could give this dance 20 stars, I would. A recording is never going to be what the performance is, but nonetheless, this was one of the most magnificent, jarring, shocking and emotional dances I have ever seen. I love you Angelin!!!! ~ Christine

Rating:
Summary: quit whining ,challenge yourself
Review: quit whining and challenge yourself you 'classical fundamnetalists'!
the negative reviews on this, ' oh, it's not faithful to prokofiev, wah, wah, wah', etc.
these are the attitudes that have killed 'classical music' which is better and more accurately termed as artmusic.
the classical crowd has become soooo conservative, so unwilling to challange themselves, accept change, or ,god forbid, listen to a composer who isnt dead, that they have in affect killed the form and buried it under a mile of dust.
interpetation is simply an artists choice to see this in a subjective aesthtical view and it might be benefecial and rewarding to think of 'accpeted pieces' in a view that differs from yours.
if we cant stop being fundamentalistic regarding our pre-conceived notions on art then will make the form an extinct one.