Posted 09 April 2011 - 03:43 PM
Cristian, I'm sorry to have taken so long to respond. Yes, indeed, Kronenberg and Guerra are a beautiful couple. In this, they dance and act beautifully and with considerable complexity Romeo and Juliet are the roles of their lives, as a couple but also individually. (I saw them in three performances. I also saw Haiyan Wu and Yann Trividic once.)
I agree entirely with Jordan Levin's review in the Miami Herald: " ... [T]he biggest production in the company's history also takes MCB to a new level" -- "a performance that would have been noteworthy in any city."
Edward Villella has said that he chose the Cranko because it had youth and speed, and because it told the story simply and clearly. I like the Cranko, which I first saw when Stuttgart brought it to New York in (I believe) the early 70s. There's a real understanding of pacing and story structure in this piece. There's also plenty of dance, even if Cranko's inventiveness seems a little thin at times and the steps themselves can be repetitive.
Cranko cuts out almost all the mime. This streamlines the story but leads to some confusion during the potion scene with Friar Lawrence.This means there is no poison for Romeo and no "O churl, drunk all and left no friendly drop to help me after?" for Juliet.
The entire ensemble did a magnificent job. They look like they had spent most of their careers dancing in the stylized, highly emotional early Renaissance world evoked by the choreography and the sets and gorgeous costumes from the National Ballet of Canada. Everyone on stage (corps, apprentices, and students from MCB's School) was entirely present throughout the evening. Everything was alive: there were no dead spots, no loss of concentration; no fudged jumps or lifts; no confusion about who I am, where I should be, and where I am going.
Just a few of the many performances that stick in my mind:.
-- Isanusi Garcia-Rodriquez's Tybalt: an elegant party host, icy cold to his inferiors, sociopathic towards his enemies.
-- Tricia Albertson, Sara Esty, and Callie Manning as the Gypsy Women, whirling recklessly around the stage;
-- Manning as Lady Capulet in another cast, looking like an iced princess in her stunning dresses, chilling in her respnse to Tyibalt's death, emotionally complex as she tries to respond to the inexplicable changes in Juliet;
-- Yann Trividic gracious, noble as Paris, and Didier Bramaz gentle and very appealing in the same role.
-- Kleber Rebello's Mercutio, flippant, making beautiful rococco shapes with his arms and torso, lighter than air
-- Andre Ferreira's charismatic Carnival King and each of his small troupe of Carnival Clowns;
-- Elizabeth Keller's Nurse: Keller balanced the comedy and the solidity of this role and gave her character dignity, often lacking in R&J performances
-- everyone with a sword: The fight coach was Christian Sordelet and he did an incredible job.
-- And then there were the crowd scenes. When Mercutio dies, the entire marketplace rushes to stage left and huddles around his body, creating the look and feel of a single organism, even as each individual responds in his or her own way.
Romeo and Juliet are complex parts. Just consider this, from the tomb scene. Juliet must awaken in fear. Then -- in less than minute -- she must experience sudden relief, then and joy when she finds Romeo lying next to her; then horror when she finds he is dead; panic when she tries to escape; shock when she comes upon Paris's body; tenderness when she gently closes Paris's eyes; resolution when she seizes Paris's knife and returns to the bier; hesitation; shock and pain when she stabs herself.. Then she climbs to join Romeo's body, positioning herself so that she can hold him between her knees, then bending over him just before she dies. NOT easy. You must make the arc of contradictory feelings and actions seem spontaneous, inevitable, "right." That's what Jennifer Kronenberg did.
A few more impressions of Kronenberg:
-- Juliet entering the ballroom shyly, showing off a bit, allowing herself to be partnered by Paris in what is one of the ballet's loveliest bits of choreography (a gentle, elegant dance);
-- Juliet slipping out into the garden, hoping to meet Romeo, shy-confident, very quickly learning how to deceive her parents;
-- the long, beautiful lines of Kronenberg's extended arms and legs during the many travelling lifts in the Balcony and Bedroom Scenes
-- the devastating final pose and slow falling into death as the stage goes dark.
Carlos Guerra, too, was excellent. I've never seen him so confident, so committed. A few impressions:
-- the affectionate and remarkably elegant fooling around with his friends Benvolio and Mercutio, including a kind of competition involving double tours en l'air;
-- his sense of wonder (he cannot take his eyes away from Juliet) almost from the beginning,
-- the exhuberance of his big jumping turns in the Balcony scene;
-- the sense he made, emotionally, of all the shifts in mood and fortune in the scene in which Mercutio, and then Tybalt, are killed and Romeo must deal with the consequences.
MCB hasn't much experience with big story ballets. The Balanchine Nutcracker they do very well. But Giselle, Coppellia (not the Balanchine) and Don Quijote have tended to come across like sketchy approximations of the real thing. This Romeo and Juliet is a huge step upward for the company. Next season, when Giselle and Coppelia are revived, I hope they receive the same attention and loving care that has been given to R&J.
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-(one of the Gypsies)
because I haven't seen any of the MCB performances but I just wanted to respond a bit to Bart's comments.
