Review from The FT.
Quote:
For its first London appearance, at Sadler's Wells this week, the Royal Ballet of Flanders has brought what I suppose to be the fastest Romeo and Juliet on record. In two acts, coming in at exactly two hours, it is tempting to call it Alfa Romeo and Juliet.
Yet for all its speed - and I welcome the cutting of some of Prokofiev's more doom-laden, boom-laden moments - this staging by André Prokovsky fulfils its dramatic/ emotional duties well. It is very good to look at: Robin Don has provided a grand marble setting that can swiftly become palazzo or town square or bedroom. Costuming by Alexandre Vassiliev is equally good at evoking period, with bold colours flaring against Don's decor. Visually, then, it is a stylish success, and dramatically no less so.
MORE And from The Telegraph.
Quote:
The company's Romeo and Juliet was choreographed by Andre Prokovsky in 1997. The three-act ballet has traditionally been the province of the larger national companies, but for the RBoF Prokovsky has choreographed an attractive and engaging two-act chamber version.
MORE And The Times.
Quote:
IF YOU are going to stage yet another version of Romeo and Juliet, one of the most choreographed ballets in history, you should have something to say for yourself. Yet it’s hard to see what André Prokovsky is saying with his 1997 production of Prokofiev’s ballet, brought to London by the Royal Ballet of Flanders for a week-long season at Sadler’s Wells.
MORE And finally The Guardian.
Quote:
Andre Prokovsky has made a living out of abridging classic stories for ballet, and with at least some of his sources - The Great Gatsby, Anna Karenina and The Three Musketeers - he has travelled an enterprising distance from the familiar canon. With his 1997 Romeo and Juliet, however, he revisits one of the most choreographed plots in history.
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