English National Ballet brings Shakespeare's great love story to the stage with Rudolf Nureyev's inventive and passionate choreography and Prokofiev's exhilarating score performed live by English National Ballet Philharmonic.
What a fabulous evening of ballet, music and spectacle that was - this would be a wonderful show to introduce someone new to ballet, or with ballet-phobia, to how beautiful it can really be.
With a huge cast of performers, a large orchestra, rich costuming and magnificent (if slow to change) sets this is, at one level, a hugely impressive production, but what I actually took away from the evening was the intimate story of two young lovers. Like many people I have seen many forms and productions of the Romeo and Juliet story over the years and have become somewhat immune to its emotional core - something about last night's ballet re-awakened that heart and I found myself genuinely involved and, crucially, moved by the protagonists plight.
The choreography is a real delight and the performances pure pleasure - Alina Cojocaru portrayed beautifully a young, petulant, love-struck girl hungry for her impetuous Romeo (Isaac Hernandez). The story telling was a delight, no need to read the programme notes, everything was so beautifully protrayed by a cast with no weak links.
Truly a night to remember - thank you ENB
