Emerging Pictures Presents Romeo and Juliet

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Wed, 03/28/2012 - 20:00 -- Nick Dager

As part of its Ballet in Cinema series Emerging Pictures presented London's Royal Ballet of Sergey Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan on March 22nd. The live performance was seen simultaneously in nearly 150 of Emerging's network of 300 theaters; the other theaters in the network showed the performance captured live in the weeks following the live performance. Dancing the title roles were internationally renowned ballerina Lauren Cuthbertson and Federico Bonelli with music performed by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House conducted by Pavel Sorokin. Prokofiev's score for Romeo and Juliet was completed in 1936 and originally performed with choreography by fellow Russian Ivo Vana-Psota. In 1962 Kenneth MacMillan was asked to choreograph it for The Royal Ballet.  Now widely considered the definitive version of the ballet MacMillan produced one of his most famous and acclaimed works.  His use of naturalistic acting and gesture — the explicit expression of adolescent passion between the two young lovers — was a startling innovation at the time.  In this production Nicholas Georgiadis's earthy Renaissance designs with some of the original details recently restored are the perfect backdrop to Shakespeare's tale of two star-crossed lovers.