This fine production, starring Alessandra Ferri, Wayne Eagling, and their colleagues in The Royal Ballet, takes the choreography of Kenneth McMillan and the music of Prokoviev to create a magical ballet experience. Not yet on DVD (but hopefully will be in the near future), it was broadcast on TV and then released on laserdisc and video through the 1980s and 1990s.
Quite apart from the fact that Prokoviev's music suits the adaptation of the tragic play far more than Tchaikovsky's, the dancing from most of the players in this ballet is wonderful. Ferri is a marvellous Juliet, and indeed has played the role many times since - delicate, doll-like, and believable. Eagling makes a passionate Romeo, especially in the famed balcony scene (which has made it onto DVD in the pas-de-deux series), and in the more jokey sequences where he cavorts about outside the ball with his friends and pursues Juliet once inside.
A more substantial and satisfying production that the Nureyev/Fonteyn one from the 1960s, this 'Romeo and Juliet' should be held up as a mirror to all productions that have and will come after. I can't find a single thing to criticise about it.
