San Francisco Ballet 2005- Romeo and Juliet

mehunt · **Posted:** Mon Apr 25, 2005 7:30 am

Casting for next week is out!

Sat Night: Tan/Possokhov
Sunday 5/1: Van Patten/Vilanoba
Tuesday 5/3: LeBlanc/Boada
Wednesday 5/4: Zahorian/Legate
Thursday 5/5: Van Patten/Vilanoba
Friday 5/6: Tan/Possokhov
Sat Mat 5/7: Zahorian/Legate
Sat Night 5/7: LeBlanc/Boada
Sunday 5/8: Tan/Possokhov

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:10 am

Remind me - whose R&J is this?

DavidH · **Posted:** Mon Apr 25, 2005 12:12 pm

The Artistic Directors - Helgi Tomasson.

crandc · **Joined:** Tue Aug 28, 2001 11:01 pm **Posts:** 255

Well, I guess with 4 casts and 2 principals in each there are going to be a lot of people "left out" but I still am surprised by some of the omissions. Gonzalo Garcia, Nicolas Blanc, Lorena Feijoo, Kristin Long? Are any of them injured? I would have thought Garcia and Feijoo at least were all but shoo-ins for title roles.
At least for the men, Mercutio and Tybalt are two strong supporting roles. For the women, while Lady Capulet and the Nurse are important to the development of the story they don't do much actual dancing, at least not in any production I'm familiar with (which does not include Tomasson's). The only good female role(s), aside from Juliet, is/are the harlot(s) so for women this ballet is truly about the only options being either a virgin or a whore!

mehunt · **Posted:** Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:13 pm

I think there are probably other soloists I would have liked to see given a shot at Juliet too.

One of my favorite R & J's though, was one I saw with the Stuttgart Ballet (Cranko choreography of coruse) in which Marcia Haydee played Lady Capulet. I've forgotten nearly everything else about that performance except for her.

Belinda · **Joined:** Tue Oct 24, 2000 11:01 pm **Posts:** 269

Garcia is injured . . .

Azlan · **Posted:** Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:26 pm

Okay, shoot me now. I'm going to give this a miss...

bcx · **Joined:** Mon Apr 19, 2004 11:01 pm **Posts:** 167

I saw Sarah Van Patten's debut as Juliet in Helgi Tomasson's "Romeo and Juliet" Sunday afternoon. It was an extraordinary performance: lyrical, elegant, and tragic. Juliet is a perfect role for her combination of gifts. In her brief career at SFB (she joined the company as a soloist from the Royal Danish Ballet in 2002), it was a defining performance. The crowd (very large) greeted her warmly and appreciatively. She's dancing Juliet one more time this season— Thursday at 8 pm.

RaHir · **Posted:** Mon May 02, 2005 10:56 am

S.F. Ballet dancers rise above the flaws of middling version of 'Romeo and Juliet'
Rachel Howard, Special to the San Francisco Chronicle

Monday, May 2, 2005

Quote:

San Francisco Ballet boasts several world-class story productions, but "Romeo and Juliet" is not one of them. Despite more than a decade of tinkering, artistic director Helgi Tomasson's 1994 version, which the Ballet performs through Sunday, remains a good-enough staging for an exceptional company.

For more, visit http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/05/02/DDG3FCHSIV1.DTL

LMCtech · **Posted:** Mon May 02, 2005 5:46 pm

From the Contra Costa Times.

Quote:

Posted on Mon, May. 02, 2005

'Romeo and Juliet' finally fulfills promise of greatness

By Mary Ellen Hunt

TIMES CORRESPONDENT

SOMETIMES, all it takes is time. After 11 years, San Francisco Ballet has at last refined Helgi Tomasson's version of "Romeo and Juliet" into a cracking good show, filled with exciting performances that build in intensity and cover a wide swath of emotional ground.

The ballet, which started its week-long run at the War Memorial Opera House on Saturday night, was something of a mishmash at its premiere in 1994, full of busy visuals and steppy choreography that no one really seemed to have the hang of. But as Tomasson has revived it over the intervening seasons, he's trimmed away the superfluous distractions to create a more tightly paced two-and-a-half hour production that moves the story along with nary a dull moment.

more...

LMCtech · **Posted:** Tue May 03, 2005 12:30 pm

From the Oakland Tribune.

Quote:

Perfect cast performs in S.F. Ballet's 'Romeo & Juliet'
By Stephanie von Buchau, CONTRIBUTOR

POSSIBLY the most interesting thing about "Romeo & Juliet," revived at the War Memorial Opera House Saturday night by the San Francisco Ballet, was the response of the packed house — standees three and four deep.
There was rapt silence during the dancing, few clap-happy interruptions of the music, fervent applause at the end of each act and then what you can only call a "sit down" ovation. Very few people stood up; I suspect they were too drained to move.

more...

djb · **Posted:** Thu May 05, 2005 1:29 am

I saw Vanessa Zahorian and Stephen Legate in the leads tonight, and they were wonderful -- passionate, believable and very moving. In fact, the whole performance was first-rate, from the first stirrings in the market, to the first clash between Montague and Capulet (Steven Norman and Chidozie Nzerem) to R & J's final moments.

The new staging of Juliet's death has eliminated the old problem of Romeo's arm sometimes giving in to gravity and falling off Juliet after she's wrapped it around herself. But while the final scene works reliably now, it did seem to happen too quickly and neatly. Maybe it was just tonight's performance; I won't know until I've seen some others.

All of the supporting roles worked well. Sergio Torrado was a fine Tybalt. I've enjoyed every Tybalt I've seen in this production, and each has found a distinctive and convincing interpretation. Pascal Molat was born to play Mercutio, and his scenes with Mariellen Olsen's harlot were most entertaining.

In their duets, Zahorian and Legate were so secure that they transcended technique, and their dancing seemed to be only the expression of the drama.

Azlan · **Posted:** Thu May 05, 2005 2:06 pm

And one from the SF Examiner (thanks, DavidH):

Quote:

Shakespeare in love
S.F. Ballet's ‘Romeo and Juliet' exciting, romantic

By Tiger Hashimoto
Special to The Examiner

If you see one performance of "Romeo and Juliet" — play, opera, movie or ballet — in the next decade, let it be the San Francisco Ballet's colorful, exciting, romantic version of Prokofiev's 1938 score, now playing at the War Memorial Opera House. more


	public forum

San Francisco Ballet 2005- Romeo and Juliet

Who is online