With the Star-Crossed Lovers, Pacific Northwest Ballet Flexes Its Theatrical Might
The classic tragic tale gets a major ballet lift. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is reimagined in Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette, at Pacific Northwest Ballet through April 20.
Spoiler alert: There’s a whole lotta dyin’ in this romance.
About 10 minutes into this ballet, I smiled. Big. Soon after, I started to laugh.
It wasn’t what I expected in the quintessential tragic love story, or in any story ballet. But this one’s just different. Jean-Christophe Maillot’s 1996 Roméo et Juliette, on stage now and a return favorite for PNB, has an unexpected playfulness to it. It shows up both in how the characters interact with each other and in Maillot’s choreography, which often wears its ’90s era on its Elizabethan sleeve. In the steps, there’s a good dose of “Rhythm Nation” video; a series of Westside Story looks; a dusting of ’80s MTV vibes, charged with a current of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” as the head Capulet villain lunges at his Montague tormentors; and hey, was that the Macarena? It’s a delightful contrast with Sergei Prokofiev’s more classical, dramatic score.
But it’s not all flashes of levity. Accented by grand gestures and dotted with quiet moments, the drama, stark against a bare stage, packs a whole lot of emotion into no words. (Of course, virtually every audience member will have brought at least a few lines in with them.) And the famous balcony, while barely-there in form, is immediately recognizable on this sparse set by Ernest Pignon-Ernest, awash in light by Dominique Drillot.
It’s a strange twist: a ballet that strips out all the floweriness to put up a story in its starkest feelings and rawest form. Romeo and Juliet works beautifully as a ballet for the same reason I loathe it as a play: it’s all about getting carried away. How better to tell a story of getting carried away than with ballet, its expressions in grand sweeps on bodies that defy gravity?
Of course, the casting helps. Lucien Postlewaite and Clara Ruf Maldonado make a sweet pairing as the title two. Their performance, bolstered by the others, captures the fateful duo’s stakes.
Lady Capulet is hardly a sympathetic character, but here you can really see her put through the wringer, as first a nephew and then her daughter are laid out cold. Elle Macy is great with the grand gestures, a reach so wide I’d swear she kicked the ceiling in between effortless spear-toed hops; it’s a stunning contrast to her tender, quiet moments with Jonathan Batista (as Tybalt) and Miles Pertl (as Paris), or, later, hunched down with arms outstretched, a tall pillar collapsing under wrenching loss.
Christopher D’Ariano is a superb choice for Friar Laurence (a character who, in something of a narrator role, does more interpretive dance and less clarifying the moment). D’Ariano’s form has long reminded me of a speed skater; and here, that confident, precise power is particularly on display.
There’s the vim and vigor of the Nurse, with Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan comically layered in ruffles that are powerless to stop her shimmy. Batista brings a sleek prowess to Tybalt, a take-charge villain when lunging at Romeo’s loyal pals, who are wonderfully animated by Kyle Davis (Mercutio) and Christian Poppe (Benvolio). (It’s also a comic boon to the duo’s playful provocations that those costume pants make Poppe look perpetually bare-assed, clearly a PNB hallmark.) And Ashton Edwards, who can light up a stage from 10,000 feet, lends a welcome warmth even with a fleeting glimpse.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. But boy is this a triumphant one to watch.
Roméo et Juliette runs through 4/20 at Pacific Northwest Ballet (in McCaw Hall, Seattle Center/Mercer side). Tickets here. Tickets prices vary by seat and show time. Pay-what-you-choose tickets offered for Thursday (4/17) performance; see info here. Accessibility notes: main restrooms are gendered and multi-stall, with gender-neutral, single-stall restrooms available by most of them. Theatre and common areas are wheelchair accessible.
Casting varies by performance, with principals Dylan Wald and Angelica Generosa rotating with Postlewaite and Maldonado in the title roles. View scheduled performers (subject to change) here.
Run time: 2 hours 30 minutes, with intermission
Chase D. Anderson is Editor & Producer of NWTheatre.org.