The Complete History of Romeo and Juliet Ballet Versions

Did you know that there are many versions of the ballet Romeo and Juliet? In the West, the most popular productions are those by MacMillan and Cranko. Of course, the plots are identical in all versions, but the choreography varies according to the creators’ special characteristics.

However, many other choreographers have created different versions of the ballet Romeo and Juliet. We will only detail the best-known here, otherwise this article would be too long. Most productions were based on Prokofiev’s score, although some have used music by other composers, notably Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Hector Berlioz, and Frederick Delius.

Bronislava Nijinska

The first 20th-century version of Romeo and Juliet was not based on Prokofiev’s score but on the music of the British composer Constant Lambert. In 1925, Russian art critic and ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev, director of the Ballet Russes, attended a concert featuring works by the British composer Constant Lambert. He found his music “danceable” and commissioned a ballet score from him in 1926. Meanwhile, librettist Boris Kochno began writing a script for the ballet, based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

On a trip to Paris, Diaghilev discovered the surrealist movement. He met Max Ernst and Joan Miró, visited their studios, and commissioned them to design the sets for Romeo and Juliet. After considering hiring a young English choreographer for Romeo and Juliet, Diaghilev ultimately hired Bronislava Nijinska.

The Costumes, the Score and the Choreography

The costumes, created by Miró, were very simple: yellow tunics and a blue triangular tutu for the ladies and rehearsal clothes for the men. The only characters wearing period costumes were Romeo and Juliet themselves. To compensate for the lack of sets, there were no less than two scenes by the surrealist painters Max Ernst and Joan Miró; but their design bore no relation to the theme, the music, or the choreography. In the second scene—the “performance”—the episodes of the lovers’ first meeting, the duel between Romeo and Tybalt, the balcony scene, and the death of Juliet are danced in Renaissance costumes. After this, instead of acknowledging the applause, the dancers performing Romeo and Juliet flee by plane, dressed in leather coats and aviator caps with protective goggles.

As for the other elements of this ballet, the score, by Constant Lambert, was very similar to any other example of second-rate modern music and made no impression on the audience. Nijinska’s choreography was difficult to evaluate. It consisted mainly of barre exercises. There was a pas de deux and much miming; but practically no actual dancing. So, the ballet was divided into two parts. Also of note is the entr’acte, staged by George Balanchine. Although the curtain was lowered, its lower part remained a few inches from the stage. So, the audience could see the dancers’ legs as they moved across it. “These ‘modern’ touches were apparently to Diaghilev’s liking.”

The Surrealist Scandal

Thanks to the magical presence of prima ballerina Tamara Karsavina and the youthful, masculine charm of Serge Lifar, the ballet triumphed in Monte Carlo. On the other hand, in Paris, for unforeseen reasons, it sparked a resounding scandal. André Breton and Louis Aragon, leaders of the Surrealist movement, to which both Ernst and Miró belonged, disapproved of the artists’ participation in Diaghilev’s capitalist enterprise and attempted to sabotage the Paris premiere of Romeo and Juliet. They deployed their young followers among the audience at the Sarah Bernhardt. The curtain rose, revealing Miró’s stage set. At this point, the young supporters of surrealism unleashed an indescribable uproar and showered the audience with copies of a proclamation. In this proclamation, they criticized Miró and Ernst for “selling out to capitalism.”

The manifesto was printed in red ink. Leaflets were thrown from the upper balconies, flooding the audience seated in the orchestra. At the same time, Louis Aragon climbed onto the railing of a box in the upper tier and harangued the spectators. When the uproar began, Diaghilev ordered the curtain to be lowered and the performance stopped. It resumed only after the police intervened and the protesters were expelled from the theatre. This event, which went down in history as the “Surrealist Scandal“, sparked Parisians’ curiosity about Romeo and Juliet and maximized the box office takings for Diaghilev’s productions.

Here you can see the designs created by Joan Miró for the ballet Romeo and Juliet.

Vania Psota

In 1935, the Bolshoi Theatre commissioned Prokofiev to create a score based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. However, among other reasons, the theatre’s artistic director rejected his work, considering it “undanceable.” Faced with this situation, Prokofiev was disappointed, thinking he would never be able to perform his work.

But a short time later, Prokofiev contacted the Brno State Theatre (Czechoslovakia). Finally, the first version of Romeo and Juliet with Prokofiev’s music premiered on December 30, 1938, at the Brno State Theatre for Opera and Ballet (Czechoslovakia), performed by the Yugoslav National Ballet of Zagreb. The ballet was choreographed by Vania Psota, the theatre’s resident choreographer. Psota himself also performed the role of Romeo. Little has been written about this production, which was overshadowed by the ambitious Soviet Romeo at the Kirov shortly after, with Galina Ulanova playing the role of Juliet.

 

Leonid Lavrovsky

When the ballet seemed doomed to oblivion, the Kirov Theatre revived it. The choreography was assigned to choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky (1905-1967). Despite Lavrovsky’s initial enthusiasm for Romeo and Juliet, he found the choreography difficult. He found Prokofiev’s music excessively complicated and dissonant, and the dancers hated it. Galina Ulanova insisted on not dancing it and declared it undanceable. On the other hand, Lavrovsky set about changing the score, cutting entire sections and simplifying others, and pressured Prokofiev to add new variations. So, the final score was a disfigured distortion of Prokofiev’s original. However, Romeo and Juliet was a resounding success when it finally premiered in Leningrad on January 11, 1940. Although Lavrovsky’s choreography is highly melodramatic, it is notable for its clarity and sustained passion.

Lavrovsky’s work blends classical ballet, character dance (predominantly Russian rather than Italian), pageantry, extensive traditional pantomime, and realistic fight scenes. His version of Romeo and Juliet astonished Western European audiences when the Bolshoi Ballet premiered in London in 1956. Preceded by a highly praised 1955 film version, the London performances secured Lavrovsky’s lasting recognition as an archetypal representative of Soviet-style ballet. Lavrovsky’s production served as inspiration for other important productions, including those by John Cranko (1962), Kenneth MacMillan (1965), John Neumeier (1971), and Rudolf Nureyev (1977). A notable exception to the influence of Lavrovsky’s version was a production mounted on an excerpt from Prokofiev’s score by Frederick Ashton for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1955.

In Russia, Lavrovsky’s version is still performed by the Mariinsky Theatre. It was originally created for Galina Ulanova and Konstantin Sergeyev. So, it has been shaped by their interpretations, and indeed limited by them. The role of Romeo, for example, is still assigned to the dancer most closely related to Sergeyev, the most purely classical.

Antony Tudor

Ballet Theatre (today known as American Ballet Theatre) assigned the British Antony Tudor (1908-1987) to create another version of Romeo and Juliet. He rejected Prokofiev’s score in favour of a selection of orchestral works by Delius, with arrangements by Dorati. Tudor also rejected the designs commissioned to Salvador Dalí. He insisted that the ballet be designed by Eugene Berman, who created sets and costumes inspired by Renaissance paintings.

Berman’s designs integrated seamlessly with Tudor’s stylized choreography, based on Renaissance dance postures and patterns. Tudor condensed the story and extracted its essence with small but eloquent details and masterfully adapted the action to the music.

The one-act Tudor ballet includes some pantomime but is almost entirely danced, as even the dramatic action is stylized and rhythmic. The technical basis is classical, but it is fused with elements of court dance and expressive action. Tudor’s version consists of a prologue and eight scenes.

Unlike the other productions, Tudor kept the lovers separated during the balcony scene. Tudor also changed the ending by having Juliet revive before Romeo dies. Finally, the lovers address the audience before he collapses and she commits suicide.

In the Ballet Theatre’s first performance, the cast was led by Alicia Markova (Juliet), Hugh Laing (Romeo), Nicholas Orloff (Mercutio), and Tudor (Tybalt). Nora Kaye, Alicia Alonso, Igor Youskevitch. Also  John Kriza participated in this production.

Frederick Ashton

The first Englishman to tackle Prokofiev’s score was Frederick Ashton (1904-1988), who made a beautiful version for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1955 before the Soviet production had been seen in the West. Ashton cut and rearranged the score—reducing it to ten scenes and an epilogue—and adapted it as a classical ballet.

The Royal Danish Ballet’s staging of Ashton’s Romeo and Juliet is a magnificent production. It features numerous set changes and action spread across three stage levels. It is a classical romantic ballet with a degree of pantomime, emphasising dance. Even the fight scenes are carefully choreographed.

Among the many memorable features of Ashton’s version are:

• Juliet’s childlike leap into her nanny’s arms
• Romeo’s swift and clear evolution from a carefree, curious young man to a man ready to face death.
• The thrilling duel between Mercutio and Tybalt, up and down stairs and through the streets.
• The balcony scene.

John Cranko

Cranko was a South African dancer and choreographer who had trained and worked with the Royal Ballet. His early choreography had been poorly received in London, and he had moved to the Stuttgart Ballet in 1961. Cranko, like MacMillan, was determined to make dance relevant to a new generation. And in Stuttgart, he created several highly successful full-length modern ballets on literary themes. Cranko had his own Romeo and Juliet premiered by La Scala Opera Ballet in Venice on July 26, 1958, long before MacMillan tackled ballet himself and staged it in Stuttgart four years later.

Cranko’s Unique Approach: Minimal Mime, Maximum Expression

Cranko almost entirely dispensed with formal mime as a narrative device. He modelled himself on Prokofiev collaborator Leonid Lavrovsky’s spirited 1940 Bolshoi production. This was introduced to Western audiences in a 1954 film and became one of the biggest hits of the Bolshoi’s first London season in 1956. Cranko’s version is notable for its lively and detailed crowd scenes, realistic fight choreography, and the dynamic interaction between the main characters and the ensemble.

Some of his choreographic works, such as the Cushion Dance, closely imitate Lavrovsky’s, though with notable differences. For instance, Cranko’s Lord Capulet is not a tyrant but a gracious host and a compassionate husband and father. Juliet matures less than in other versions, and these lovers do not seem immediately destined for each other. On the other hand, inspired by Shakespeare, Cranko presented Rosaline as an object of flirtation for Romeo. On the other hand, Juliet, at first, is quite flattered by Paris’s attention. Finally, Cranko modifies the ending: Romeo is not poisoned but stabs himself to death. Juliet then uses Paris’s sword to commit suicide.

Kenneth MacMillan

In 1965, Frederick Ashton, then director of the Royal Opera House, invited Kenneth MacMillan, the other young British master storyteller, to choreograph his first full-length ballet, another Romeo and Juliet. MacMillan used Prokofiev’s score. Both Bolshoi and Cranko’s versions clearly influenced him. It should be noted that MacMillan had not only seen Cranko’s choreography but had also rehearsed it in Stuttgart. So, MacMillan achieved a similar fusion: the captivating rapport between the two lovers unfolded against a panorama of Renaissance Verona. MacMillan’s most original invention was the third-act pas de deux, in which Romeo danced a lyrical and moving duet beside Juliet’s lifeless body. On the other hand, Juliet stabbed herself not in the heart but in the womb.

This MacMillan version is one of the most successful today. MacMillan created the role of Juliet for Lynn Seymour, the young Canadian dancer who had been his muse since 1958. The union between a choreographer and their chosen dancer is marked by fascinating dynamics. One such aspect is the deep identification with a character, where the dancer’s talent poses a challenge to the creator. And the resulting creation challenges the dancer.

How Juliet Dictates the Action in MacMillan’s Ballet

This production reflects his dramatic talent, as Juliet is the engine that drives the ballet. Juliet is willful, reacting with extraordinary passion against her world. She has the temperament to try to change her destiny. Juliet is stubborn; she is the one who proposes and orchestrates the marriage. She has a personality that is in conflict with her environment and rebellious against her parents and the conventions they represent. The role of Romeo takes a back seat in this production. While the dramatic opportunities are less exciting than those of Juliet, the technical demands of the role are great and have been admirably undertaken by most of the Royal Ballet’s performers, especially Christopher Gable, on whom it was based. Juliet is the strongest character in the ballet. She dictates the action by the force of her passionate love for Romeo.

MacMillan and Seymour’s Exit

Ultimately, however, the premiere was performed by Fonteyn and Nureyev. The decision was made for commercial rather than artistic reasons. Fonteyn and Nureyev were internationally renowned stars and guaranteed a full house at exorbitant prices. Feeling betrayed, MacMillan and Seymour left the company and the country. They moved to West Germany, where MacMillan became director of the ballet at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. Germany had a network of state- and locally funded opera houses, many of which had resident ballet companies. The country became a favourite postwar destination for English and American choreographers seeking security and a platform for experimentation. This was because of the excellent and economically generous working conditions available there. The importation of artists from Great Britain and the United States promised to help the country regain its prominence on the cultural scene.

Baryshnikov on Interpreting MacMillan’s Romeo

Many other dancers have shone in the two main roles: Sibley, Park, Makarova, and Collier among the Juliets; Dowell, Eagling, and Baryshnikov as Romeo. According to Baryshnikov, “Kenneth MacMillan’s adaptation allowed me to explore the role more freely. It’s always important for me to figure out exactly how to fit it into an existing ballet, and since so many people have danced Romeo successfully, I had to analyze it with particular care (…)

Also, Baryshnikov expressed: “The central metaphor of his ballet is the pas de deux: the way the two young people come together and part ways. And it is in these pas de deux that MacMillan has achieved his greatest success.” (…) Technically, Romeo and Juliet is a very rewarding work to perform. The pas de deux are creative and expressive, the steps musical and satisfying. (…) It is not a technically difficult role, but it is exhausting, very long, and dramatically active from beginning to end.”

Other Romeo and Juliet Ballet Versions

Maurice Béjart

Created amid the Vietnam War, Béjart’s Romeo et Juliette reflects the popular motto of the time: “Make love, not war.” Béjart framed the work as a rehearsal, with himself as the ballet master. In the end, he resurrects the lovers, who are united for the first time amidst the thunder of war. The work was intended for performance in large public spaces and popular venues. For example, a circus or a sports stadium. Also, Béjart designed this ballet to be a visually striking spectacle.

John Neumeier

Rudolf Nureyev

Full of action, humour, and drama, Rudolf Nureyev’s award-winning production of Romeo and Juliet was created especially for the London Festival Ballet (now known as English National Ballet) in 1977 to celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. Since then, the company has performed it worldwide to critical acclaim. From its brilliant opening moment with a quartet of macabre dice players, the advance of a plague cart across the stage laden with corpses, and the subsequent fall of a vast crimson and black silk drapery that prepares us for the drama to come, it is evident that Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet will be a “different” production. It brims with theatrical ideas, which contrast perfectly with Frigerio’s designs, the Renaissance costumes, and the painterly evocations of urban landscapes.

Yuri Grigorovich

From 1964 to 1995, he was Principal Choreographer of the Bolshoi Theatre (and from 1988, he was Artistic Director of the Ballet Company), where he staged his production of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet in 1979. The roles of Romeo and Juliet were danced by Viacheslav Gordeyev and Natalia Bessmertnova.

Alexei Ratmansky

Born in Russia in 1968, Ratmansky is a choreographer and former ballet dancer. In 2011, his choreography of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet was premiered by the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto. Ratmansky’s London performance garnered significant acclaim. Indeed, New York Times critic Alastair Macaulay hailed him as “the most gifted choreographer specializing in classical ballet today.