 |
||
 |
||
 |
 |
|
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
Romeo & Juliet Acclaimed by critics worldwide, Romeo & Juliet — a gripping tale of two young lovers caught between their feuding families and their love for each other — is considered Artistic Director Michael Pink’s signature production. The fiery retelling of William Shakespeare’s romantic masterpiece, Romeo & Juliet, performing May 10-13, 2007, features stunning Renaissance costume designs created by Judanna Lynn, Prokofiev’s beautiful score performed by the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, fight scenes directed by Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Lee Ernst, and Joffrey Ballet guest artist Julianne Kepley as Juliet for two of the performances. Synopsis Directed & Choreographed
by: Michael Pink "Two
households, both alike in dignity. Synopsis The events of this tale take place in less than one week. We should always remember that Romeo and Juliet are young teenagers whose actions are born out of innocence and an adolescent enthusiasm. They meet, fall in love, secretly marry and meet an untimely end. Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet introduces the eligible Paris as her suitor, a match that would indeed be very handsome was she not soon to meet Romeo Montague. Our young protagonist and his cohorts, Mercutio (impetuous and dashing) and Benvolio (honest and good-willed) plan to disguise themselves and steal into a grand feast at the house of Capulet. Much to Romeo’s delight, the beautiful and chaste Rosaline, along with Verona’s fairest, will attend. For Mercutio and Benvolio this is an opportunity to show the pining Romeo that there are many more willing ladies than her. It is at this feast that fate plays its card. Romeo and Juliet unwittingly set eyes on each other. Nothing can ever be the same. Juliet’s cousin, the volatile Tybalt, swears vengeance on Romeo, for this affront. Romeo meets Juliet later, beneath the stars. She is torn between dearly wishing him to stay and fearing for his safety, should he be discovered. They part with ‘The promise of tomorrow.’
Act Two Tybalt seeks revenge from Romeo who refuses to fight as they are now related. Instead Mercutio takes up the challenge. While he is by far the better swordsman, his fate is sealed by an accident. To the end Mercutio entertains his loyal friends. But with his last breath he curses both the houses of Montague and Capulet. Romeo’s love for Mercutio blinds his reason. In a rage, he kills Tybalt. Lady Capulet is inconsolable at the loss of Tybalt, a love and a son she never had. Romeo is banished from Verona. Act Three The Friar has given Juliet a potion, which will make her appear lifeless. After she is laid in the tomb. Romeo will come to her, she will awake and at last they will be united. Friar Laurence sends a message to Romeo informing him of the plan. The letter never arrives. The 'star crossed lovers' are finally united, in death. "A glooming peace this morning
with it brings. Michael
Pink Talks Romeo & Juliet What drew you to Julianne Kepley for your conception
of Juliet? How does a guest
performer add to the production of Romeo & Juliet? We hear your fascination
with Romeo & Juliet extends
into your personal life; who's your "Juliet?" Romeo & Juliet is said to be your "signature" piece
— what is different about your version compared to other choreographers? What type of audience member might enjoy this particular
piece compared to the other performances this year? Additionally, I encourage parents to download the Romeo & Juliet study guide for their children studying Shakespeare. Sergei
Prokofiev, Composer By age 12, it was decided that Prokofiev should continue his studies at a Conservatoire. Eventually, in 1904, he was sent to the St. Petersburg Conservatoire so that his mother could be close to him. The Conservatoire at this time was under the direction of Rimsky-Korsakov. He was also introduced to Glazounov. Despite a faltering first meeting Glazounov dedicated his Fantasy Waltz "To my dear colleague, Sergei Prokofiev, from Glazounov." Against the established thinking of the Conservatoire, Prokofiev became a committed anti-Romantic, not liking the music of Chopin and Liszt. In 1914, despite not playing one of the prescribed Classical concertos, he won the Rubenstein Prize for piano performance playing his own composition. The year of the Russian Revolution, 1917, turned out to be a creative time for Prokofiev producing the Violin Concerto in D major and the Classical Symphony. Prokofiev moved to the United States in 1918 where he gave his first recital November 11th. In America he was greatly discussed, somewhat admired but little liked being variously described as "the Bolshevik pianist" or "Steel fingers, steel biceps, steel triceps - he is a tonal steel trust." The lack of success for his opera The Love of Three Oranges, commissioned by the Chicago Opera in 1921, was enough to spur Prokofiev’s relocation to Europe. On return trips to Russia in 1927 and 1929 Prokofiev was enthusiastically received. Following a comparative lack of success in Europe and the United States, he returned to Stalin’s Soviet Union for good in 1932. The next years produced Lieutenant Kijé, Romeo and Juliet, War and Peace and Cinderella. In his homeland he was celebrated and honored until the 1948 crackdown on Soviet composers by the Central Committee under Stalin’s orders. (This was also the year of his marriage to Mira Mendelson.) After that time all music had to conform to strict criteria to "advance Soviet musical culture so as to lead to the creation, in all fields of music, of high-quality works worthy of the Soviet people." The result was uncontroversial music of artistic inconsequence. Prokofiev died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Moscow, March 5, 1953, the same day that Stalin died. He was buried near Scriabin and Chekov. History
of Romeo & Juliet Origins
of the Tale, Romeo & Juliet By the 15th century, many more familiar features of the story were developed. Masuccio Salernitano’s 1476 Cinquante Novelle includes the story of Mariotto and Giannozza of Sienna who are secretly married by a friar. Mariotto is banished after he kills a citizen in a quarrel, and Giannozza’s father arranges a marriage for her. The friar provides Giannozza with a sleeping potion; she is thought dead and entombed. In the meantime word is sent to Mariotto of her plan. The message never reaches him as the messenger is attacked by robbers, so when Giannozza sets sail for Alexandria to be with her love, Mariotto returns home to mourn Giannozza. While attempting to open her tomb, Mariotto is arrested and beheaded. Giannozza witnesses the execution, cradles the fallen head and subsequently dies of a broken heart. As Salernitano referred to the two protagonists as contemporaries, they have since been considered quasi-historical characters. A later version by Luigi da Porto (1485-1529) in his Istoria novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti transfers the events to Verona, renames the lovers Romeo and Giulietta, and specifies a feud between the Montecchi and the Cappelletti. The story follows the familiar line with Romeo returning and finding Giulietta seemingly dead. He takes a poison and Giulietta awakens in time to speak with Romeo before he dies. She commits suicide by holding her breath. Learning of the tragic circumstances, the feuding families are reconciled. Da Porto created several characters including Marcuccio (Mercutio), Theobaldo (Tybalt), Friar Lorenzo (Friar Laurence) and the Conti de Lodrone (Paris). Da Porto’s life story is almost as romantic. An heroic, good looking and brave young man, he was left for dead in 1510 after a battle between the Venetians and Impérials. He survived, but was seriously disfigured. His Venetian general, mindful of his good looks, wrote "Odious is the victory that costs so high a price!" Da Porto retreated from the world and gave himself over to literature. His touching and tender Giulietta e Romeo made him famous throughout literate Italy, but the success was not great enough. He died at age 43 from the burden of solitude and regret of his fragile health. The tale was translated and elaborated by, among others, Matteo Bandello (Nouvelle, 1554), and Boistuau and Bellforest (Histoires Tragiques, 1559) acquiring a conspiratorial nurse and a young man who would evolve into Benvolio. The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet, a long narrative poem (from the Italian Bandello) by Arthur Brooke (1562) was Shakespeare’s main source for his play. Shakespeare also shows a passing indebtedness to William Painter’s The Palace of Pleasure of 1566. At the time of writing Romeo and Juliet - usually attributed to the year 1595 - Shakespeare was thirty-one and was already on his way to a successful theatrical career. Shakespeare dramatically compressed the time scale of events in Brooke’s poem from months into four days - from Sunday morning until Thursday morning - and draws his characters much more deeply. Shakespeare’s plays have been subjected to many interpretive adjustments during their long history in order to suit the taste of the day. Romeo and Juliet is no exception. A success from its first presentation - "it ‘hath been often (with great applaufe) plaid publiquely" - it has been presented in many languages and settings and freely adapted. A 1682 adaptation by William Davenport, who slowed the pace of the play, was described by Samuel Pepys as "the worst that I ever heard." In 1679 Thomas Otway adapted the play into The History and Fall of Caius Marius, setting the action in ancient Rome, with much new poetry and with the famous speech beginning "O Marius, Marius! wherefore art thou Marius?" Perhaps Otway’s most notable change was to allow the dying hero to live until the heroine awakens in the tomb so that they may die together. Although not an immediate success, this production seems to have completely superseded Shakespeare’s play for some forty years. Theophilus Cibber’s production of 1744 mixed material from Romeo and Juliet with lines borrowed from Two Gentlemen of Verona and Otway’s text. David Garrick’s 1748 and 1750 versions did much to establish the enduring popularity of the play (he had performed it over 450 times by 1800), but he also made major revisions. Amongst other changes the character of Rosalind was eliminated, Juliet’s age increased to eighteen (she was thirteen in Shakespeare’s original), many speeches were cut and, as in previous versions, Juliet was able to awaken before Romeo’s death so that the two could share a final impassioned exchange. In the 19th century, Thomas Bowdler in his Family Shakespeare sought to purge the works of all bawdy features and several actors, including J.P. Kemble and G.R. French and censored the sexual frankness of the original. However, in the 1840s many attempts were made in England and the United States to revive the original version of the play, although often the bawdy side of the play was still toned down. In another development, Romeo was often played by an actress, a reversal of the Elizabethan custom of assigning female roles to boys. Actresses also took on the role of Hamlet, so nineteenth century audiences seem to have been adaptable to this change. With the 20th century came multiple revivals of the play and it reached a larger audience through its inclusion in school curriculums and presentations in film, radio, television and video. Even audiences who were unfamiliar with the play came to know of it through several comedic parodies. Romeo and Juliet has also acquired more than its quota of musical descendants. No other play by Shakespeare has inspired so many composers, including Bellini, Berlioz, Gounod, Tchaikovsky, Benda, Schwanberg, Malipiero and Bernstein. Earlier
Choreographic Versions of Romeo and Juliet The plethora of 20th century ballets notwithstanding, Giulietta e Romeo, a ballet in five acts by Eusebio Luzzi, was first seen in 1785 for the Théâtre Samuele in Venice. The music was by Luigi Marescalchi who composed many ballets for the celebrated choreographer Giulio Vigano. We do not know much about Luzzi but two other ballets by him were presented at La Scala, Milan during their 1797-98 season. Two years after the Venice performance La Scala Milan presented its own Giulietta e Romeo with choreography by Filippo Beretti who also took on the role of Romeo. The ballet was probably in only one or two acts as it was one of three ballets on the evening. An important production of Romeo e Julia by Ivan Ivanovitch Valberkh (or Walberg) took place in St. Petersburg, November 2, 1809. Born Ivan Lessogorov in Moscow in 1766, his name was changed to Valberkh by Catherine the Great. After receiving his diploma in ballet in 1786 he left Russia to study in Paris. He embraced the concepts of Noverre but disdained the choreographic style of Vestris. Valberkh created the Russian ballet d’action and found fame with his ballet of 1799, Le Nouveau Werther, inspired by Goethe, with music by Russian Serge Titov. Following this success he became director of a dance school where he had the students study not only dance but also singing, acting, playing an instrument and theater design. Recognition of his achievements brought him to the Bolshoi School in Moscow in 1807 to reorganize that school’s curriculum. It was on his return to St. Petersburg that he presented his Romeo e Julia, a ballet in five acts with choirs inspired not by Shakespeare but by the opera Romeo et Juliette by German composer Daniel Steibelt. The music for the ballet was revised from the opera by Steibelt who had become director of the Opera français in St. Petersburg. Being a well known dancer and mime, Valberkh himself played Romeo. The plot was similar to the one we know today except for the ending. When Romeo returns to the tomb to be with Juliet he is discovered by her father. He is about to kill Romeo when Don Fernando (Juliet’s betrothed) intervenes. The sound of the fighting awakens Juliet who throws herself in Romeo’s arms, further infuriating her father. Don Fernando renounces his claim to the marriage of Juliet and persuades her father that she and Romeo should be married. There is reconciliation between the two families, and a joyous chorus concludes the ballet as it did the opera. About 1811 another ballet in five acts, Romeo et Julie appeared on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Copenhagen, produced by renowned dancer Vincenzo Galeotti (then aged 78). The music was by Klaus Nielsen Schall; Juliet was danced by his sister in law Margrethe Schall. Romeo was Antoine Bournonville, father of the celebrated August Bournonville who would define the Danish style of ballet. Little is known of the ballet except that there was a large section devoted to pantomime and little dancing as a whole. At one point Romeo and Juliet embraced and held a pose like Amour and Psyche, while the organ and orchestra played. Prokofiev
and his Ballet Music Prokofiev and Diaghilev met for the first time in London in 1914 and, as it was the shrewd and ultimately sagacious impresario’s practice to encourage young talent, he presented the composer with his first ballet commission. Diaghilev put Prokofiev in touch with the poet Sergei Gorodetsky, telling him to create a ballet on a Russian fairy tale or prehistoric theme. Prokofiev selected for his subject the prehistoric nomads who roamed the Ukrainian steppes, the Scythians. The ballet was rejected by Diaghilev before its completion because it sought to emulate Stravinsky’s "The Rite of Spring," and Diaghilev was looking for something to "outrage" the public with something new. However, the ballet music, whose orchestral effects and subject have some similarities to Stravinsky’s "Rite of Spring," was revamped into an orchestral suite. (It was to become Prokofiev’s practice to derive orchestral suites and symphonies from music originally intended for the theater.) Newly entitled "Scythian Suite: Ala and Lolli, Op. 20," it was introduced by the composer at the Maryinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, January 29, 1916. Diaghilev continued his connection with Prokofiev by arranging a piano recital in Rome in 1915. Despite the termination of his first assignment, he gave Prokofiev a second commission which resulted in the score for "Chout" (sometimes known as "The Buffoon") to be choreographed by Massine. The piano score was completed in 1915, but in the meantime Massine left the Ballets Russes. Mikhail Larionov and Tadeo Slavinsky were subsequently chosen to collaborate on the choreography. The production was eventually mounted in May 1921. When Diaghilev brought a group of patrons to a final dress rehearsal of the ballet in London, Prokofiev was conducting. He considered it a working rehearsal and, wishing to be more comfortable, removed his jacket. Several elderly ladies from London high society, scandalized, rose to their feet and departed with their escorts. It was a signal for all the other invited guests to depart. In 1925 Diaghilev asked Prokofiev to write a ballet on a "Soviet subject" that would reflect the contemporary life in Soviet Russia. Prokofiev met with Sergei Yakulov, a Soviet theatrical constructivist artist who was hired as set designer for the new ballet. They agreed the ballet should be a portrayal of the industrial progress of the USSR. Prokofiev gave the music the title Urignol -- derived from U.R.S.S. and parodying Stravinsky’s Rossignol -- but Diaghilev disliked the name. In the end the ballet was called Le Pas d’Acier. Despite trying, Diaghilev was unsuccessful in his quest to secure the services of a young Soviet choreographer. He eventually turned to Massine. Parisians eagerly anticipated a Bolshevik propaganda ballet. Although it was well received, the ballet was reviewed as "a weird work beginning with its title and ending with its music and choreography." For Diaghilev’s last Paris season of the Ballets Russes, Prokofiev composed the music for "Prodigal Son" with choreography by the young Balanchine. Opening May 21, 1929, it was a big success in Paris and later Berlin and London. During the summer of 1931, Prokofiev was commissioned to write the music for a ballet by Serge Lifar entitled "Sur le Boryshène" (On the Dnieper). Prokofiev dedicated the work to Diaghilev who had died in Venice in 1929. Despite being a collaboration of experienced and established artists, the ballet was not a success. A major success for Prokofiev, although long and difficult in its creation, was the ballet "Romeo and Juliet" which premiered in 1940 for the Kirov Theater. Prokofiev wrote two other ballets, "Cinderella" (1945) and "The Tale of the Stone Flower" (1954). It is interesting to note that Prokofiev achieved much greater success for his ballets than for his operas on which he spent considerably more time. Following the success of Romeo and Juliet, Prokofiev was commissioned by the Kirov Ballet to create "Cinderella" to a scenario by Nikolai Volkov. Prokofiev was inspired to this task by his admiration for the ballerina Ulanova with whom he had developed a close relationship despite a stormy beginning during rehearsals for "Romeo and Juliet." Due to the German invasion of Soviet Russia, the ballet was laid aside for two years. Prokofiev offered to fight for his country but was excused "for his genius." He wrote "It was during those days that my plan to compose my opera based on Tolstoi’s "War and Peace" took shape. The pages describing the battle of the Russian people against Napoleon in 1812 and the rout of the Napoleonic army suddenly felt very close." Separated from his wife and children, Prokofiev concentrated on the completion of his opera "War and Peace" and some smaller scale works. "War and Peace" premiered at the Malay Theater, Leningrad, April 18, 1942. At the end of 1943 Prokofiev returned to Moscow with a complete piano score of "Cinderella." By the summer of 1944, the orchestral score was ready. He had set the ballet in his favorite time period, the 18th century. He wrote, "What I wanted to put over essentially in the music of 'Cinderella' was the love of Cinderella and the Prince, the birth and development of this feeling, the obstacles in the way and the realization of the dream at last. I attached great importance to the ‘fairy tale’ side of it which posed a series of interesting problems..." Although commissioned by the Kirov, it was the Bolshoi Ballet that first presented "Cinderella" November 21, 1945. It was a great success for both composer and company. In April 1946 a new production for the Kirov Ballet was mounted. Due to a serious fall leading to brain concussion, Prokofiev was unable to supervise any of the rehearsals. However, there seem to have been none of the problems associated with "Romeo and Juliet." Although first performed in April 1942, the opera "War and Peace" was revised twice. For the 1946 production it was enlarged to the point that it took two evenings to perform. Finally in 1952, a few months before Prokofiev’s death, a version was created in five acts and 10 tableaux. As with many of his fuller works, Prokofiev developed symphonic suites from "Cinderella" (Op. 107, 108 & 109), and a Waltz Suite for symphony orchestra, (Op. 110) which includes three waltzes from "Cinderella." Following the concussion he suffered in 1946, he moved to a new home in the village of Nikorina Goya, on medical advice. It was there that he put together his Waltz Suite Op 110. Three of the six waltzes are from "Cinderella," two from "War and Peace" and the "Mephisto Waltz" is from the film "Lermontov." "Since we Met" from "War and Peace" had its origins in the incidental music for the play Yevgeny Onyegin (1936) that was never performed. The full suite was first performed May 13, 1947. "The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet" was not entirely of Shakespeare's own invention. The common dramatic practice of his day was to draw upon existing history, writings and legend as material for plays. Like all of Shakespeare's plays, Romeo and Juliet takes essentials of its plot from the common currency of European literature. The story of the "pair of star crossed lovers" driven to destruction by the strife between their parents' families was told many times in many forms during the two centuries before Shakespeare brought it to the stage in the 1590s. But within a few years, Shakespeare's version quickly became "the" version of "Romeo and Juliet." Romeo
and Juliet, The Music Prokofiev wrote, "In the latter part of 1934 there was talk of the Kirov Theater of Leningrad staging a ballet of mine. I was interested in a lyrical subject. Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet" was suggested. But the Kirov Theater backed out and I signed a contract with the Moscow Bolshoi Theater instead. In the spring of 1935 Radlov and I worked out a scenario, consulting with the choreographer on questions of ballet technique. The music was written in the course of the summer, but the Bolshoi Theater declared it impossible to dance to and the contract was broken." The Kirov Theater had a purge of "avant garde" artists at this time, and Radlov was ousted as its director. The official reason for cancellation was that choreography to Shakespeare would be sacrilege. "Romeo and Juliet" to the Prokofiev score was first performed in Brno, Czechoslovakia in 1938, an event that went by almost unnoticed. Meanwhile, Prokofiev had preserved his music for "Romeo and Juliet" in two orchestral suites and ten piano pieces in 1936 and 1937. A third orchestral suite was arranged in 1946. The first Soviet performance of the ballet was given at the Kirov Theater on January 11, 1940. Preceding the first performance there were many disagreements between the choreographer, Leonid Lavrosky, and Prokofiev. The dancers failed to understand the music; and the orchestra, in a last-ditch effort to avoid a disaster, tried to cancel the show. Playing on the last lines of Shakespeare's play, a saying current in the theater was "There is no tale of greater woe than Prokofiev's music for Romeo." Galina Ulanova, the first Soviet to dance Juliet, said she wished for music that had "some melodic pattern of our own, something nearer to our own conception of how the love of Romeo and Juliet should be expressed." Despite so little hope for success the ballet was well received and has been popular ever since. The Lavrovsky ballet was finally presented by the Bolshoi Ballet December 28, 1946. The score of "Romeo and Juliet" has a very strong structure based on the original libretto. This has presented choreographers with either a very strong blueprint to follow or too many restrictions if they are not inclined to agree with every detail. There were four hands in the making of the libretto. Prokofiev and his original collaborator and longtime associate Sergei Radlov were joined by playwright Adrian Piotrovsky and the choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky who made numerous changes. In his autobiography Prokofiev writes, "There was quite a fuss at the time about our attempts to give Romeo and Juliet a happy ending -- in the last act Romeo arrives a minute earlier, finds Juliet alive and everything ends well. The reasons for this bit of barbarism were purely choreographic: living people can dance, the dying cannot. But what really caused me to change my mind about the whole thing was a remark someone made to me about the ballet: 'Strictly speaking, your music does not express any real joy at the end.' That was quite true. After several conferences with the choreographers, it was found that the tragic ending could be expressed in the dance and in due time the music for that ending was written." Biography and History courtesy of BalletMet Columbus. |
|||||||||||||||||||
|