American Ballet Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet Review
February 15, 2023 | Kennedy Center – Washington, D.C., USA
Emotions ran high at the opening night performance of American Ballet Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet at the Kennedy Center. Holding the rapt audience on the edge of their seats, the stellar cast delivered a riveting account of William Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy and made this performance of Romeo and Juliet memorable in many ways.
Set to the sweeping music of Sergei Prokofiev, Kenneth MacMillan’s 1965 balletic
interpretation of the Shakespearean classic, renowned for its dramatic
choreography and opulent designs and costumes, has an enduring place in
American Ballet Theatre’s repertoire.
The company has been dancing this production of Romeo and Juliet since 1985 and it shows. On opening night, ABT’s dancers looked securely at home with the intricacies and challenges of MacMillan’s powerful choreography.
Their dedicated dancing and skillful acting elevated the romance, heartbreak, and tragedy of the famous love story to a new high.
Performing on the stage of the Kennedy Center Opera House was a homecoming
for the 24-year-old principal dancer, Aran Bell, who was born in Bethesda, Maryland.
This young and supremely gifted dancer, who joined ABT as a member of the corps de ballet in 2017, rose through the company’s ranks at an astounding speed. At the age of 19, while he was still in the corps, he made his first appearance in the role of Romeo. (His performance was described in the New York Times as “an astonishingly impressive debut.”) In 2020, at the age of 21, he was promoted to the principal rank – a remarkable feat for a dancer at ABT.
With his perfect physique, natural charisma and handsome looks, Bell was born to dance Romeo.
On opening night, his hero was a hopelessly romantic youth, sensitive and dignified at heart, who was changed by the power of love from a rowdy and carefree lad to a passionate and sympathetic lover. Bell’s dancing was technically flawless and expressive; and he proved a strong, secure partner. His acting was imbued with subtle individual touches and nuances, yet, at the sametime, his performance felt very unaffected.
Tall and lithe, with exceptional plasticity and impressive technique, Devon Teuscher was utterly convincing as Juliet.
The key to her interpretation was the intense feelings with which she delivered her every step, every gesture, showing us moment-by-moment Juliet’s emotional rollercoaster as she underwent the transformation from an innocent doll-playing girl, to a spirited rebel standing up for her right to choose whom to love and marry, to a disconsolate woman shattered by grief in the ballet’s devastating finale.
The pinnacle of the lovers’ plight was gorgeously expressed in their dancing. Replete with passionate embraces, euphoric lifts and elaborate holds, Romeo and Juliet’s duet in the balcony scene and the bedroom pas de deux were exceptionally danced, Teuscher whirling in and out Bell’s strong arms in sheer abandonment to the joy of first love.
American Ballet Theatre's Romeo and Juliet
There were notable performances among the supporting dancers.
The towering Thomas Forster was fittingly smug and brutal as the murderous Tybalt – a dark-clad bully who will stop at nothing, even deadly force, to prove his point.
His character was a complete opposite to a quirky, uninhibited and mischievous Mercutio as danced by Carlos Gonzales. (The only problem I had with Gonzales’s performance was the lack of unison in his dancing with Romeo and Benvolio in front of the gate of Juliet’s house before the trio crashed the Capulets ball.)
Zhong-Jing Fang’s Lady Capulet was extravagantly melodramatic and even poignant as she mourned the death of Tybalt, thus hinting at a tragic love story all of her own.
Playing a pivotal role in Romeo and Juliet’s destiny, Friar Laurence as portrayed by Alexei Agoudine looked appropriately solemn and dignified.
And Susan Jones, ABT’s long-term veteran, gave a terrific account of Juliet’s warm and caring Nurse.
In this production, MacMillan creates substantial mass scenes, giving prominence
to the corps de ballet.
ABT’s ensembles looked impressive from start to finish as the dancers of the corps flooded the market square of a sunny Verona, dancing with uninhibited zest; sword fights between the feuding clans of Montagues and Capulets were well-rehearsed and intense; and the famous “Dance of the Knights” at the Capulets ball gave in this performance an especially potent account – an ominous prelude to the looming tragedy.
Featured Photo of Aran Bell and Devon Teuscher in the title roles of American Ballet Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor.
