Bolshoi Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet Coming to Orcas Center

Sunday, January 21, 1 p.m., Orcas Center

— from Susannah Weaver for Orcas Center —

Bolshoi Ballet present Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet staged by famous choreographer Alexei Ratmansky. Ratmansky stages the company’s premiere of his production with dramatic urgency and a fresh retelling of Shakespeare’s beloved classic. His brilliant and detailed adaptation set to Prokofiev’s romantic and cinematic score reignites the story of literature’s most celebrated star-crossed lovers like no other classical ballet choreographer today. We at Orcas Center have the opportunity to see this rich and brilliant production streaming from Moscow on Sunday, January 21, 1 p.m.

In Verona, Romeo and Juliet fall madly in love while their respective families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are caught in a bitter rivalry ending in heart-wrenching tragedy. Alexei Ratmansky, former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, showed his version of Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet in 2011 in Toronto. The production was commissioned by the National Ballet of Canada. Critics and spectators raved about the performance. Before the premiere at the Bolshoi Ratmansky’s Romeo and Juliet was performed only at the National Ballet of Canada, which commissioned this production by the choreographer. Six years after the world premiere, the company continues to consider it the signature production and one of its greatest conquests.

A Bolshoi’s spokesperson, who quoted the choreographer, said that Ratmansky was inspired by the genius music of Prokofiev, he did not deviate from Shakespeare’s plot and preserved the historical flavor of Italy—of the Renaissance—in his production. “When you start working with music, it’s impossible not to respond emotionally to it, even if you are not a fan of Prokofiev or the music of the 20th century. There are such formulas, such melodies, such musical drama that it is simply impossible to remain indifferent.” Ratmansky understands ballet in a way that feels both elemental and intricate. One of his ongoing grievances with remounting story ballets is it forces audiences to put up with dated pantomime – the constant juxtaposition of silent, melodramatic acting and choreography. By shunning straightforward verisimilitude, Ratmansky seems set on rectifying this. He knows what Prokofiev’s score can express about the highs (and lows) of love; better yet, he knows how to let this come to life fully and provocatively inside the body.

Ratmansky’s beautiful evocation of love at first sight captures the figurative and the literal in the textured choreography. Sweeping, complex ensemble work creates the effect of time passing and, sometimes, of moving across distances. Since Ratmansky’s ensemble scenes incorporate so much disparate but simultaneous detail, the effect is like a Bruegel painting come to life. You won’t want to miss the encore of Bolshoi Ballet in Cinema’s Romeo and Juliet.

Tickets for The Bolshoi’s Ballet in Cinema Romeo and Juliet are $20, $15 for students, $2 off for Orcas Center members, and may be purchased at www.orcascenter.org or by calling 360-376-2281 ext. 1 or visiting the Orcas Center Box Office open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 12:00 – 3:00 pm. $5 subsidized tickets are available at the Box Office. For more information about Orcas Center’s 2017-2018 season visit www.orcascenter.org.