The cast lists aren't up, but according to Alice Kaderlan, who spoke to Dave Beck on KUOW, one of the local Seattle public radio stations, Carla Korbes, who was cast in it last year but was injured, and Kaori Nakamura will dance Juliette. She said that Noelani Pantastico was in town to coach them. (I would have thought that Korbes, like Pantastico, was also coached by Maillot last year.) She also said that Korbes was supposed to dance only one performance in the last run, which doesn't make sense. I know Bernice Coppetiers, who originated the role and also coached, was supposed to dance one performance, the second Saturday matinee -- she was listed on casting page in the website -- but in a Q&A, Peter Boal said that there were visa issues.

According to Boal in a Q&A at the end of last season, Lucien Postlewaite and James Moore, who both danced the role last year.

http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=18332

I will be excited to see Kaori in this role. Her technique is flawless, but in a crystaline sort of way. A strong exception to that overall impression was when I saw her performance in Tharp's "Afternoon Ball". There Kaori created a character of wild emotion with non-traditional dance vocabulary that made it hard for me to believe that who I was watching was really Kaori. I'd still like to see someone like Rachel Foster doing Juilette because of her natural affinity for more modern styles, but certainly not to the exclusion of Kaori -- assuming Kaori can marry her incredible technique to the emotionalism required to deliver Malliot's choreography. Watching Kaori in the last couple of years inject character and emotion into her dance gives me reason to be very excited indeed about the possibility of her Juilette in this version of R&J. I can't wait!

Kaori seems to have the huge range of emotions required for Juliette, as well as the stamina to get through all the acts. I wonder how she'll approach the transition from teasing, impetuous teen to lovestruck, devoted young woman. It's neat to see that, even after all her years at PNB, she's still adding new challenges to her repertoire.
I'd be curious to see if anyone else is learning the roles of R & J...ie, Seth Orza, Rachel Foster, and Lesley Rausch. I'd be surprised if Seth wasn't an understudy, because the role of Romeo seems right up his alley. Also, who will be Nurse and Mercutio? I'm so excited to see the final cast list...

And he's already done an R&J, at NYCB.

The company usually starts rehearsing a handful of dancers for major roles, thinking that some are learning the work for future seasons. Occasionally they've had to bring those dancers up to speed due to injuries in the current casts, but that's not always the case.

I'm wondering about Nurse and Mercutio, yes, and also wondering who might be dancing Lady Capulet.

Originally, I think Korbes and Pantastico would have split the performances a bit more equally, but there were a series of decision made fairly close to the opening that wound up with Noelani P doing a marathon job. As I understood the situation with Bernice C, she was asked to perform for an added matinee (the show was selling extraordinarily well) and when she said she was available they added the performance. Then they couldn't get her visa processed in time (she was coming to the states already, but needed to arrive earlier to do this show) despite intervention by several people, so Pantastico took a breath and said she'd do that one as well.

Orza was scheduled to dance the pas de deux at Vail, with Carla Korbes. Boal didn't mention any more men in the role, but we may be surprised. I'd love to see Orza do it.

I thought I saw Korbes listed multiple times in the Week 1 cast list before she was injured and casting was updated, but I could be hallucinating again. I'm looking forward to seeing both women this year.

Countdown to the casting...

I think you're right about Korbes being scheduled for a fair number of performances -- they really did take a major risk by having just one Juliette for the run of the show, and I know that was not the original intention.

The Company is making it very difficult to do the detective work, but in some new rehearsal photos on the PNB Facebook site, Chalnessa Eames and Rachel Foster are seen rehearsing the Nurse -- I thought Eames was fantastic in the role last year -- and Carrie Imler is sitting on a bench in a photo rehearsing with Kaori Nakamura.

There are a number of photos of the men, with Jonathan Porretta, Josh Spell, Seth Orza, James Moore, Lucien Postlewaite, Batkhurel Bold, I think Tisserand and maybe Kyle Davis (in the red shirt) rehearsing the fight scene in various combinations.

Glad to hear that (great detective work, BTW!). Rachel was my pick to replace Jodi Thomas as the nurse if Rachel didn't get the nod to do Juliette (low odds I know). I agree with you Helene, Chalnessa was a terrific nurse last year (such a great part!) so it is not surprising she will do it again. Hmmmmm....Carrie as Lady Capulet perhaps. I wish the men photo had Barry Kerollis in it since I was pulling for him to inherit the Tybalt role from Herd.

Mara Vinson is also learning Juliette.

I wondered if that was she in the back left corner of photo #1...

Looks like sandik called that one right!

Frankly, Mara didn't use to excite me, but something's changed....I am really getting into her dancing since she returned from maturity maternity leave. I loved her in Dances at a Gathering. If she does Juliette that will no doubt clinch it for me: one way or the other.

[later edit....OOPS )

I think from photos 25 and 26, it looks like Imler is rehearsing the Nurse to Nakamura's Juliette.

Now, that's interesting. With her acting skills (along with everything else wonderful about Carrie) she'll take that role to unimagined places (if she doesn't upstage Juliette ).

There are indeed many tasty roles here, and I'm very curious to see who eventually does what. In the meantime, we certainly seem to have fun speculating.

How I wish I would be in Seattle to see it!

There's a 1 minute+ video on the PNB Facebook site of the Montegues rehearsing.

Casting is up here for the first week.

(I like much of the new website, but this format for casting makes it very hard to compare performances)

Not many total surprises, but some interesting choices.

Carrie Imler gets a chance at the Nurse as well as Lady Capulet. Bakthurel Bold is Tybalt for all but one show. As is often the case, the Saturday matinee is full of 'first chance' performances: Barry Kerollis gets a go at Mercutio. Leslie Rausch gets to swan around in Rosaline's gown, Seth Orza is Tybalt, Josh Spell is Benvolio, and Mara Vinson does Lady C in the same performance. Olivier Wevers does most of the Friar Lawrences (with Karel Cruz on Saturday night).

I guess I tried too early!

The new format is impossible to use without transcribing the choices to paper.

I think this casting is great. I wish I didn't have to miss Carrie Imler's Lady Capulet, but I'm looking forward to seeing her Nurse.

Indeed, she says, looking at her little hand-drawn chart...

There is an amazing 3+ minute video of Korbes and Postlewaite, and Nakamura and Moore speaking and rehearsing on the PNB Facebook fans page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/vi...v=1123972461386

I don't see it on the PNB website itself yet, but if it appears, I think it would be listed here:

http://www.pnb.org/Season/09-10/RomeoJuliette/#Media

Just watch what Postlewaite does with his eyes. And Nakamura has an amazing haircut.

I'm really glad that PNB is posting more of these videos. It reminds me of several years ago when NYCB dancer Kristin Sloan produced a podcast series for Peter Martins' Romeo + Juliet, with rehearsal footage and interviews with the dancers...really brings the audience down to a more personal level with the ballet.

I agree, Postlewaite's use of the eyes is just fantastic. Does anyone plan on going to see both casts perform? Last time, I had the opportunity to see it twice; I think that the second viewing forever changed my perspective on dancing. The ending (shown in the video, too) where Moore is dead on the ground and the music is building brought me to tears. I also thought that Karel Cruz did a particularly good job with his role in that cast. He and Wevers presented completely different Friars but both of them fit with the storyline.

PNB seems to have a great marketing strategy going with this ballet and I hope that it pays off.

I'm sure many of us will. I saw 5 performances last year (yes, there is no hope for me ).....and that's with only 1 Juliette. I can't imagine what I'm going to do with 2 (maybe 3???) to choose from. Does anyone think there will be a 3rd Juliette? It was mentioned in this thread that Mara Vinson was rehearsing the part.

It's going to be fun to post all our reactions here as these performances unfold. I feel like a little kid the night before Christmas when ballet season starts again!

Just a note that on the "Director's Choice" section of the PNB website is an announcement that ticket buyers for "Romeo et Juliette", both online and by phone, are eligible for a 20% discount on "Director's Choice" tickets. This program, which runs 5-7 and 12-15 November, includes Kylian's "Petite Mort", Robbins' "West Side Story Suite", Goerke's "Mopey", and Caniparoli's "Four Seasons".

According to the website, "Online orders will be emailed a discount code; phone orders will have discount taken at the time of purchase."

http://www.pnb.org/Season/09-10/DirectorsC...e/#EventsOffers

According to this preview in The Seattle Times,

I'm going Thursday, and both performances on Saturday, and I'm still missing Carrie Imler as Lady C.

I just checked again, and the second week casting is up (same web address as above). No additions except for Rachel Foster as Nurse, Thursday night and Saturday matinee. (but it doesn't overlap with Imler as Lady C.... grumble)

DRESS REHEARSAL

I went last night with anticipation and some "fear and trembling" . Why "fear and trembling"?? Would I be disappointed because maybe, just maybe, I burned myself out on this piece last year since I basically flipped out over it? What would it be like without Noelani Pantastico? Would Carla Korbes blow me away, or not measure up to the stratospheric performances that Noe pulled out of infinity last year?

Well, it was sort of "all of the above". First off, I typically don't like dress rehearsals. There is something missing in a dress rehearsal -- I suspect: the magical communication and inspiration btwn audience and cast. But I couldn't resist going to this one, and I kept my expectations low. Act I did not thrill me. It was nice, but it did not reach inside my soul. Carla was good (very, very good), and Lucien Postlewaite was his 110% full out, actor par excellence self, but no one can do the "sweet innocent" Juliette like Noelani did. In addition, having seen this ballet 5 times last year, the fight scenes etc were too familiar by now.

Then came the "Balcony" scene. The bar rose. The tension mounted. Carla and Lucien "found" each other. I started to get excited. Then BAM....Act III. I am still shaking. What Carla and Lucien created on that stage in Act III, in a rehearsal no less, transcended. This was theater at its best. Carla simply owns ACT III. This is a must see.

As I think back on this piece, as done by PNB (and most importantly as done by these PNB dancers), the inherent drama of the choreography, which depends on acting skill as much (or more) than on dancing skill, makes the personalities of the dancers vital to what you will see (Balanchine must be rolling over in his grave ). For those that know Noelani Pantastico, she comes across as just about the sweetest person you could imagine. Aurora fits her like a glove. She is a maiden. OTOH, Carla Korbes is powerful, feisty, and sensual. She is a woman. So for me, the 1st half (up to the bedroom scene) of PNB's R&J belongs to Noe, but the 2nd half belongs to Carla. Both, of course, are wonderful, but it is an exquisite treat to have had two such accomplished actor/dancers at PNB for this piece. How lucky we are!

This says nothing about Kaori Nakamora and her James Moore Romeo. I'll have to wait until Friday night to see that. I hope Noe and Carla have left room for yet another magnificent performance. Frankly, I expect Kaori to blow us all away yet again. Her precise dancing, her stamina, her dedication has to produce something superb. But will she triumph as this iconic character? Will she have the emotional range to create yet another superb Maillot Juliette? I think she will. I suspect that when Kaori breaks out of her crystalline shell of perfect dancing and finds the actor in herself....LOOK OUT! As I've said before, I think we got a taste of that possibility in her performance in Tharp's "Afternoon Ball" PNB commissioned last year. I noted that Kaori was in the audience last night, and up on stage every time the cast took notes. I think she knows the challenge she has set for herself. I, for one, am planning to be wow-ed once again.

Fall weather and ballet in Seattle.......about as close to paradise as it gets!

P.S. The heart of this piece, as in all forms of R&J, is Juliette, but I must tip my hat to Lucien Postlewaite. Does the guy ever have a bad minute? In some sense it is he who has created these Juliettes. What an amazing performer. And as long as I'm crediting the men: Olivier Wevers! World Class! Last night, for the first time really, I understood how the dancer playing the Friar drives this entire production. Not just for the fact that Maillot sets the entire ballet as a sort of remembrance by the Friar as he is racked with guilt for his role in this tragedy, but for the competence of the dancer playing this part since this dancer sets the tone for the entire work. I can't imagine how anyone, anywhere, can compete with Olivier's Friar.

I am so disappointed at not being able to see PNB do this.....please, lots of reports!

Please also let those of us who aren't in town know who got promoted on opening night...It's such an exciting season for the company!

I was blessed to be able to see both Friday night and Sat night performances. I loved being able to compare them. Such a treat!

AND.......................??

I'll start with my usual disclaimer that I don't know much about dance, and therefore these are all just my uneducated impressions.

I enjoyed Kaori Nakamura and James Moore on Friday night, but I wasn't moved as I was when I saw Noelani Pantastico and Lucien Postlewaite dance it last year. Kaori did become Juliet for me, except her boyish haircut was a distraction and kept me from really seeing her as a desirable young maiden. Sometimes she seemed like an adolescent tomboy, and sometimes she seemed like a 30 year old woman. James Moore never became Romeo for me. He was just James Moore dancing a role.

My husband raved about Chalnessa Eames as the nurse, but my memory of Jody Thomas was better in that role.

I enjoyed Carrie Imler in the role of Lady Capulet, and I can't even remember who I saw perform it last year. She became her mother to me, or as I imagine her mother would behave.

Then I brought my daughter on Saturday night. Carla Korbes and Lucien Postlewaite were transcendent. Again I was moved to tears. Carla was Juliet and Lucien was Romeo. Just WOW! This ballet belongs to Carla. After seeing it 3 times, the impression I have is that it is a ballet of arms. So much of it is acted with the arms, and I have never seen a dancer with better arms than Carla. I hang on every movement of her arms -- they express so much emotion.

I hate to compare Kaori and Carla because I felt they were two very different Juliets, but I would want to see Carla do the role over and over again. Even if Kaori danced it with Lucien, I don't think I would want to go a second time. Although I enjoyed her energy and intensity, her short hair was too distracting to me.

Ariana Lallone danced Lady Capulet, and although her dancing was dramatic, I didn't feel the mother connection like I did with Carrie Imler.

Saturday night had Carrie Imler as the nurse. I loved her in that role, too! The magic difference was that I believed she loved Juliet. She wasn't just a funny character, she was Juliet's nurse. The character made sense to me for the first time. I thought Chalnessa's nurse just seemed grossed out that she was next to a dead body.

Another delightful surprise was Karel Cruz! His long, tall lines made the Friar a larger than life character. My daughter said she preferred Olivier's, but I thought Karel Cruz's grief and dread were palpable. This performance demonstrated why he deserved this promotion.

There is always so much to watch, and I think I caught something interesting. Maybe someone can confirm this for me . . . Friday night when Mercutio kissed Lindsi Dec's character which leads to the fateful fight, it looked to me like she acted angry and egged on the fight. Saturday night when he kissed her, it looked like she enjoyed it, which made Tybalt angry and led to the fight. I thought it was interesting that two different reactions could lead to the same result. Did I really see it, or did I make it up in my mind?

Chocomel,

You say you don't know much about ballet (and neither do I, BTW -- at least compared to most on this board), but my guess is you know more than you feel comfortable giving yourself credit for . I say that your observations are spot on! (Besides everyone's impressions are interesting and valuable.)

I've only seen Carla at the dress, so I'm holding off comment until I see her on Friday and Saturday later this week. I did see Nakamura/Moore last Friday, and my reaction fits very well with your comments. Both James and Kaori did extremely well, but the competition from both the past (Noe) and the present (Carla and Lucien) is just too strong. I did think James did some fabulous dancing, especially from a technical point of view, but this ballet depends so heavily on character and acting that technical dancing takes a back seat. Besides Lucien is unbelievable. He's Michael Jordon in this part. How can anyone compete? One new wrinkle is that my wife said on Friday that she found James/Kaori more believable as lovers than Lucien and Noe. I don't find that to be so, but my wife is very visually tuned so I guess she just liked the physical "look" of the James/Kaori couple.

You mention CARRIE IMLER. Indeed, indeed. IMHO, Carrie is the the most accomplished dancer in the company -- bar none. No one has her range, no one executes on all levels, in all types of ballet, like Carrie. I've only seen her Lady C so far (the nurse comes this week, in fact, I am going Saturday night primarily just to see that). It was Ariana Lallone and Lousie Nadeau last year. They are both great (I saw Ariana at the dress), but Carrie tops them both -- not in every particular, but as always with Carrie, she added power and character to every moment of her dancing from the grief scenes to the seductive scenes, not to mention her flawless dancing. Also I can't resist mentioning how great Carrie is looking. Congratulations Carrie!

I will look again this week at that Dec/Poretta kiss you mention. My memory is that Dec was disgusted at the kiss. It makes sense that she would be since she is a Capulet and Mercutio is a Montague. I note that even when Mercutio kisses a Montague, the woman is put off by his audacity (e.g., Poretta and Rausch in the opening scene.....Rausch is titillated, but put off too). In addition, remember that Mercutio also kisses Tybalt at one point!!

Not to mention licking the Tybalt puppet head...

Sometimes I think Mercutio is out to offend everyone.

Forget the "sometimes" part.....

In 2004 the Bolshoi Ballet brought the Donnellan/Poklitaru "Romeo and Juliet" to the US. The purpose of the production seemed to be to present a modern version of the story with a fusion of dance and theater. While I found it entertaining, I don't think it was in the way the company intended.

Jean-Christophe Maillot's "Romeo et Juliette" succeeds in every way that the Bolshoi production didn't. While not every moment was memorable choreographically and/or dramatically -- hard to do in a full-length ballet, and I'm never going to find the Eifman-esque character of Friar Laurence convincing -- Maillot avoids the pitfall of much contemporary choreography, the endless repetition of three to five movement "signatures", repeated in endless succession. His dance vocabulary is a lot more varied and interesting, and it's most often seamlessly integrated into the theater. The theater in this work isn't only in the characterization, but also in some wonderfully inventive set pieces, like the puppet show, which in its combination of comedy and foreboding is as much of a tour-de-force as the play-within-a-play convention of "I Pagliacci". It's also in the way that he cuts a key group scene to the three key public relationships at that point in the drama -- Romeo and Rosalind, ironically no longer wanted, Lady Capulet and Tybalt, and Juliette and Paris -- which highlights the contrast of the private musings, longings, and plots.

One of the most impressive insights Maillot has is into adolescent female sexuality, particularly in the way Juliette pulls away not so much because she is socialized, but because she isn't quite ready at any given moment. Given a chance to absorb the sensation, she returns to Romeo. The balcony scene is rife with sensation from both characters.

The work is performed on a stark, white set, with two proscenium height flat white panels upstage, between which a ramp extends on the diagonal to about mid-stage. There are also two movable half-height curved panels, one wider than the other, that sculpt the stage space throughout the performance. Stage left, there is a black platform, both the bridal bed and Juliette's crypt. Despite the starkness, it is a rather intimate space, and it indicates a specific place.

I saw both Saturday performances, and the casts were starkly different. In the matinee, Kaori Nakamura's Juliette was, from the first scene with her mother, as hurt as she was playful, with Mara Vinson's overbearing Lady Capulet almost violently disapproving in her attempt to teach her daughter how to behave as a woman. When the nurse rips off her mask during the ball scene, or her robe in the bedroom scene with Paris, it's as if she's been violated. James Moore's Romeo could have been her escape and chance at love. Because of her almost insect-like sensitivity and intermittent physical delicacy, the tragedy was inevitable.

For all she said in her interview about Maillot's Juliette not being a sweet young girl from Shakespeare, Carla Korbes' characterization belied this. While passionate, her Juliette was more of an emotional innocent, getting in deeper and deeper, all the while believing that it would all work out, which made it horrific when it didn't. Her mother, Ariana Lallone's much more maternal Lady Capulet, was much more affectionate and non-traumatic. Physically, her dancing was silken. Given the chance, I wouldn't relive any period of my life before my 40's, but Korbes tempted me to want to feel what her Juliette felt as she expressed that sense of freedom and fullness.

In a Q&A, Postlewaite said he wanted to portray his Romeo as a playboy; it was Moore's Romeo who would have been believable working his way through the entire female population of Verona without coming up for air, while Postlewaite's far more patient Romeo likely would have absorbed and reveled in what he was feeling. (The girls would still be there when he was ready to move on.) Moore's change to the young husband was more of a stretch. I would have loved to have seen Nakamura's Juliette with Postlewaite's Romeo, to see how her Juliette would have reacted to his emotion.

Mara Vinson made the most of the Graham-like choreography, and she was a real dragon lady of a mother. She was so self-absorbed, like an Electra, that by the time she appeared at Juliette's crypt, I had no sympathy for her -- even Juliette's death was all about her. It was a powerful, brilliant physical characterization. Lallone's Lady Capulet was much softer and more maternal.

I thought Chalnessa Eames' Nurse was one of the great performances of last season when the work was first presented, and once again, her freeze-frame facial expressions and impeccable comic timing were splendid. Carrie Imler made her debut in the role in the evening; the comedy was in her constant motion. It was a very fine debut.

Barry Kerollis and Seth Orza made their debuts as Mercutio and Tybalt in the afternoon. Kerollis said that the character, with its anger and aggression was a stretch, and while his Mercutio was magnetic throughout, and aggressive in spurts, there were other times when he could have said, "Who, me, leave a bleeding dead body on the ground?" and have been convincing. Orza was sleek and was quite charismatic even when he partnered Mara Vinson, which was no easy feat.

The most emotionally charged relationship in either performance was Jonathan Porretta's Mercutio to Batkhurel Bold's Tybalt. Every time they were on stage together, sparks flew incessantly, and they were at each other with relentless, doggish, stubborn intensity.

There are five performances this weekend. If I weren't in Vancouver, I'd see at least two of them. Each cast has its glories, and the contrast between the two provides a rich experience.

If you have a chance, go see both.

Carla Korbes posted her impressions on "Romeo et Juliette" for "The Winger" with beautiful photographs from the rehearsal (by Angela Sterling).

http://thewinger.com/2009/romeo-et-juliette-in-seattle/

Here's what I think I saw last night:

Lindsi Dec's initial reaction was one of surprise with perhaps mild disgust (not unlike most of the women of either house that Mercutio pounces on with one of his playful kisses). But soon she becomes angry but still titillated. I watched her via my binoculars for 2+ minutes starting at the actual kiss. She runs around talking to her female friends both nervously laughing (the titillation I suspect) and clearly angry. When the violence starts in earnest she appears quite pleased that Mercutio is being held to account for what she seems to consider an insult.

So my short answser to your question is: I thought Lindsi's basic emotion was anger tinged with revenge (but a bit thrilled too).

I'm afraid I have more to say about the production. My apologies for the length -- just skip ahead if it's too much.

Postelwaite says that he thinks Romeo is a playboy, but he doesn’t come off that way -- he’s kind of louche, lounging around with Rosaline’s scarf, but he’s serious about it, about his feelings. Moore is tougher, a bit more rowdy -- more matched with Mercutio’s aggression. Helene said above that he’s been working his way through the female population of Verona, and I believe it. It’s more of a surprise that he becomes so transformed by his meeting Juliet, because he seems less susceptible before.

Poretta’s Mercutio is almost over the top -- he plays, he mocks, he fights, he flirts at top volume and maximum intensity. Poretta has had several years to think about this character, he danced it in the Stowell version as well, and it really shows. His Mercutio can’t help himself -- he’s on a greased slide to disaster. Barry Kerollis makes an excellent debut in the role, but he’s not the same firecracker as Poretta. But if he doesn’t enter with that hyper energy, he could instead track the development of that tension – Poretta is on Tybalt like glue from the very start – it could be an interesting alternative to see that relationship change over the course of the ballet.

Kerollis is Mercutio to Moore’s Romeo, which changes the dynamic of the trio (with Benvolio – Josh Spell does yeoman work while Benjamin Griffiths is out). Moore’s Romeo is more aggressive, so in a fashion Kerollis doesn’t take all the weight of picking the fights. The three of them feel more equal in that regard. I’m wondering what Kerollis would look like with Postelwaite’s Romeo.

As Tybalt, Bakthurel Bold comes out of the gate angry – he’s looking for a fight just like Mercutio is, but he’s a bit more subtle about it. He glowers where Mercutio snipes. I almost didn’t recognize Seth Orza when he made his entrance in this role, in part because he’s got a moustache and goatee that makes him resemble the actor Benjamin Bratt, but also because he looks a whole foot taller. It may be the way his costume is cut, but his shoulders seem less bulky as well, which adds to a truly compelling image.

Chalnessa Eames has really grown into the role of the Nurse, especially the more eccentric timing of the comedy bits. She was funny before, but now she knows how it works. When Korbes enters with the gold lame scarf there’s a real Isadora moment with that deep flexion in the hip and the raised knees (and when you think about how this Juliet dies the reference feels even ickier). Juliet and the Nurse have great give and take here, and the moment when Juliet strips off her kimono to the waist (“see, I am really a woman”) is a landmark for the Nurse as well as the audience. Imler made a great debut as the Nurse – she really understands the nuts and bolts of the comedy. When Juliet flashes her, Imler’s Nurse does a wonderful spit take, and then makes the whole “let’s just get you covered back up” sequence into a clear sentence with several different thoughts. Juliet is almost a hoydon in much of this, though, with three arm circles when one would do. Lallone as Lady C really does “school” her here, correcting her posture and gestures, restraining some of her exuberance. In the Q&A Lallone talked about being the person in power (there’s no Prince of Verona or Lord Capulet here) -- she feels some of the more angular shapes for her character are more masculine. I didn’t get the gender buzz, but she’s certainly all about control -- she’s got a high gloss lacquered finish on everything she does (which makes her breakdown after Tybalt is killed more powerful).

Nakamura’s Juliet is less traditional, starting with her Leslie Caron/Zizi Jeanmarie haircut. As usual, she has great quickness and a very clear sense of where she is in the space. She’s not a traditionally ‘young and sweet’ Juliet, she’s a more distinct individual. She feels a bit willful – she’s been a protected part of her world and it’s made her confident. When she lets her arm wheel in multiple circles to embellish the gesture her mother is teaching her, it has a kind of Musketeers flourish at the end of the phrase.

There aren’t really any direct ‘quotes’ from the text in this production that I’ve been able to find, but Maillot does take cues from the script. Shakespeare often refers to hands (“let us kiss as the holy palmers do,” “would that I were a glove on that hand.”) and the choreographer has made very specific choreography for arms and hands here. Alongside the swimming motif (two hands tracing a series of s curves working in parallel), Juliet uses her hand almost like a hunting dog in the first big duet with Romeo -- it searches him out like a beacon and leads her all over the place before she finally gets to him.

The ‘masks’ that the three Montagues wear at the Capulet ball make them look like cousins to the goons in Balanchine’s “Prodigal Son” (another score by Prokofiev, which probably helps the connection). The ensemble comes rushing in, rather than the massed stateliness you get in most productions of R&J. But even that volume thins out so that for a big part of this scene it’s just three couples. Romeo and Juliet meet when they run into each other, literally -- he gets shoved and falls into her. The rest of the party is full of him trying to watch her or talk to her and being diverted or shunted aside -- he’s constantly in motion, looking for a better vantage point. (and, sitting behind a tall man Thursday night, I empathize with his predicament) Juliet is being protected and guided by family, including Rosaline. Maria Chapman is just as good now as she was when PNB first did this production -- she’s the most glamorous person in the universe here. When she flirts with Romeo earlier, you don’t feel like she’s playing with him particularly, she’s just accustomed to people recognizing her allure. Leslie Rausch has beautiful arms as Rosaline, but her torso feels a bit more static, so I miss the full-bodied sensuality.

The ramp across the back of the stage starts rising when Juliet appears for the ‘balcony’ scene -- it gets quite high (I would have real problems if it were me up there) Both characters treat the ramp as part of a playground -- it’s a slide and a jungle gym for climbing. Indeed the whole duet has a child-like vibe to it -- they shake and shove, they tag each other, and in a moment of foreshadowing Romeo “plays dead” for Juliet. Some Juliets respond more directly to this -- I remember once Pantastico actually beat on Postelwaite’s chest like she was doing CPR. Their romantic reaction to each other has a similar vibe -- this is squirmy sex.

If possible, Romeo is even loopier at the beginning of act II, in the square the next morning. The interplay with Mercutio and Benvolio is just this side of bromance. When the Nurse appears they are all still pretty jokey, but when Romeo absorbs the content of the note, he sweeps off-stage

There are references to modern dance styles throughout this work, but with the wedding scene in Friar Lawrence’s cell, Maillot gets uncomfortably close to plagiarism. The two acolytes enter with a long piece of stiffened white fabric, Romeo and Juliet stand side by side facing it upstage and we are in the middle of the Wade in the Water section from Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations.” Fortunately, this only lasts for a few more bars of the music, but it’s so obvious it just makes everything grind to a halt while we think “what?” Dramatically, it’s a weak part of the scene – he could easily find another way to approach the wedding that would be more unique to his ballet.

Mercutio just can’t leave well enough alone – there are several times in the big fight scene leading up to the double murder when the Montagues could have just walked away, but that never happens. Once the fight really gets underway, it’s all slow-motion, which makes it easy to see the random nature of the violence. It’s tempting to follow other characters during the fracas – the naturalism that Maillot uses in so much of this ballet is particularly obvious here. But the first couple of times that you see it, your eyes do track the main actions, and they are almost more violent and inexorable that they are in the original text. Tybalt kills Mercutio with a blow to the head – it’s so fast and direct that you’re grateful for the slow motion. Mercutio just drops – there’s no pretty death, no fancy language games (“if you ask for me tomorrow you will find me a grave man”). It takes longer for Romeo to kill Tybalt – he strangles him, and it’s pretty gruesome.

The Friar has been trying to influence the narrative all along, but he has failed each time. This final blow really fells him – his movement is brittle and passive. Wevers and Cruz have slightly different approaches to this part, but in each of them their attenuated height really works with the aesetic qualities of the character. Wevers makes longer phrases, both physically and dramatically. Cruz approaches individual movement very clearly – in one sequence with Juliet close to the end of their “getting ready to take the potion” duet, they do a torquing kind of push and pull action, counterbalancing her and as she sinks and rises. It’s a kind of hypnotism – the actual potion isn’t anywhere as powerful as this sequence.

The end of the work accelerates from this duet – the Nurse finds Juliet, her mother grieves, Romeo rushes in and before you know it, he’s killed himself. The action opens up just a bit with the final entrance of the Friar, but not much. He’s tried all along to stop the inevitable, but at this point he can’t even slow it down.

I’ve been missing Rebecca Johnston in the corps since she retired a couple seasons ago, in part because her bright red hair made her easy to spot in a welter of bodies. So I was happy to find another redhead to watch – Andrew Bartee, who is a new corps member this year. On one of the entrances to a group melee, he really dug into the ground, making the rhythm of the phrase very clear. What a nice first look.

In one of the Q&A sessions someone asks Boal if he will revive the Stowell version – Boal’s response is that probably not “I’m on this one for awhile.” It’s interesting that he’s bringing this one back less than two years after the company premiere. The conventional kind of repertory rotation will let something sit for a longer ‘fallow’ time – couple this with Boal’s decision to present the Forsythe “One Flat Thing…” in consecutive seasons and I wonder what his thinking is about the maintenance of repertory.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when Q&A members would comment about how they love this production because it's so natural and because there's no pantomime. The swimming (squiggle) motif is just as stylized and specific as "I you love" and "my mother's tears", and the big silent "O" scream that the main characters use throughout the ballet is unconvincing as a personal, differentiated gesture, while affecting as a thematic gesture.

Thank you so much for your observations and insight, sandik!

At one of the Q&A's last Saturday, Boal said he was weighing the Stowell and Maillot "Cinderella"s. I haven't seen the Maillot, and I think Stowell's "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet" is a stronger work than his "Cinderella", apart from the love "Seasons" ballet-in-a-ballet, but in creating a younger audience, the initial sell was Romeo and Juliet, not Maillot. Now PNB can sell "Cinderella" by describing it as Maillot's (or, deep voiceover, "From the Makers of "Romeo et Juliette"...). Strategically, this makes sense, but I'm sad that it's "Tragedy" that being pushed aside, with its wonderful, created Tchaikovsky score.

I always giggle at that kind of promotion, especially the ones where they dig up some kind of connection between two otherwise not very closely related things. It's like that game people used to play about Kevin Bacon.

But still, we often use that kind of family tree evidence to talk about the legitimacy of something -- "she studied with X who was a student of Y who danced it at the premiere..."

I am always struck by that "Juliet uses her hand almost like a hunting dog in the first big duet with Romeo" gesture. I've decided that Maillot means it as a metaphor for Juliette's heart running away with her. That is, her fluttering hand is her wildly beating heart. She herself is scared of the emotion, and she herself is lead all over the place as her heart runs the gamete from fear to flat out caution-to-the-wind passion. That fluttering hand (her heart) eventually leads her inescapably back to Romeo where it (the heart) caresses him and then locks onto him in a final irretrievable commitment to love regardless of the consequences.

If I'm right, I think it is a masterful image.

It's not just the audience members that make this observation. Interestingly, both Josh Spell and Kylee Kitchens said the same thing last night at the Q&A when asked how this type of ballet was different from other more traditional ballets. Peter Boal agreed.

I think you have a point too Helene. So how to I resolve that? Here's my view (maybe we don't see this all that differently in the final analysis). Maillot's R&J does not use pantomime. I say that because traditional ballet pantomime gestures are very specific and pretty much always mean the same thing (pointing to the ring finger always means, very specifically, a marriage and always relates to the immediate plot). Maillot's gestures such as the swimming hands are far more generalized and perhaps can be better described as thematic movements. The swimming hands do relate to the theme of 2 people in love (after all, that is the basic theme of the Shakespeare play), but the swimming hands don't just mean R and J's love in a specific way. It is used in many, many ways by many, many characters (I sound like Speight Jenkins here ). Sometimes it is just the love between R and J, such as when we first see them alone after the ball as they stand far upstage bathed in a spotlight. Other times that movement is done by just one person and often means a love forbidden because it is a love of the 2 warring houses of Montague and Capulet such as the Friar often means when he uses it. In at least one instance I think it is used to symbolize the Friar's plan to bring peace to the 2 houses by marrying the 2 lovers. In another situation R or J will do the movement but with only 1 hand, and then it invariably means s/he is thinking of the other but is separated from their lover and alone. The motion is used in many ways with many different meanings but all within the theme centered on the unity that's possible btwn 2 entities if love is present. There are even times when these gestures hardly relate to the plot of the moment at all, but rather simply express the thoughts of the character at that moment.

My opinion is that the use of this type of thematic gesture is far different than traditional ballet gestures, but OTOH, as you say Helene, it is going too far to say Maillot's ballet has no pantomime in it. Better to say that balletic pantomime has been highly transformed into something more modern and more psychological just as Maillot's choreography itself is based on classical ballet training and steps, but completely transformed into something with more everyday human emotion and action (e.g., natural gait, heel-to-toe instead of ballet's toe-to-heel).

To me BOTH points of view that pantomime is not used and yet that it exists in the ballet are valid. It just depends on where you are standing.

So did anyone see Rachel Foster as the Nurse, or Carrie Imler as Lady C?

Enquiring minds want to know!

I saw Carrie Imler as Lady C a couple of times.