Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev Ballet)

Main article: Ballet in Russia

The combination of Shakespeare's drama and Sergei Prokofiev's score, unique in its melodic richness, ensured a high degree of interest in the ballet Romeo and Juliet among the directors: rarely did any choreographer sooner or later come to the idea that he wanted to realize on stage his interpretation of this story and this music. In turn, few ballet can "present" such a number of successful implementations, and the widest spectrum - from strict neoclassics to the most radical avant-garde options. Even the score with a happy ending did not escape the stage embodiment.

2024: Ballet returns to the Bolshoi stage

At the Bolshoi Theater, one of the outstanding artists involved in the production of "Romeo and Juliet" by Prokofiev was the son of a choreographer, a brilliant dancer Mikhail Lavrovsky. One of his crown parties was the Romeo party. Heir and keeper of memory, he repeatedly staged his father's ballet in theaters in Russia and Neapolitan San Carlo. And in 2024, after being appointed general director of the theater Valery Gergiev, he returns him to the Bolshoi stage. Anton Grishanin acts as the conductor. Tatyana Noginova demonstrates her vision of costumes created according to the sketches of Peter Williams.

The title parts, as always, are occupied by the leading artists of the troupe: Svetlana Zakharova, who already performed the part of Juliet directed by Leonid Lavrovsky - at the Mariinsky Theater, and Artemy Belyakov, who performed the part of Romeo in the Bolshoi, but in a different version of the ballet.

1956: London Triumphal Performance

In 1956, when the first foreign trip of the Bolshoi Theater to London was being prepared, the performance was included in the poster of these tours. Even the impresario considered this a very bold decision, because they had to show the ballet in Shakespeare's homeland. But the performance in general and Ulanova in particular caused a sensation and influenced the further course of the entire history of ballet.

Ulanova, almost at the end of her career, "proved" that the rumor about her outstanding talent was not exaggerated, confirmed the status of a world star, and, like Chaliapin, who contributed to the incredible popularity of Boris Godunov in the West, created a halo of legend around Juliet's party. Juliet's famous run to Father Lorenzo became as much a part of mythology in the history of ballet as Natasha Rostova's dance in the village of Uncle in the history of literature.

The performance made a lasting impression on British choreographers Kenneth Macmillan and John Cranco. They not only became the authors of their own stage versions of Prokofiev's score, but also largely changed the trajectory of the development of world ballet, which had previously preferred concise plotless forms. And the music of the ballet became one of the most famous and often performed compositions of the XX century.

1946: Production at the Bolshoi Theater

The outbreak of the Great Patriotic War slowed down the appearance of the ballet Romeo and Juliet on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. But soon after its completion, in 1946, it was finally staged in Moscow. And he surprisingly suited the troupe, quickly becoming one of the best performances of the repertoire.

The ballet "Romeo and Juliet" directed by Leonid Lavrovsky with some interruptions remained in the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater for almost five decades. He constantly goes to the Mariinsky Theater. In both theaters, the title and leading parts were danced by outstanding artists of different, successive generations.

1940: Lavrovsky initiates a new edition of the ballet. Premiere at the Kirov Theater with Galina Ulanova

The premiere at the Kirov Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater, held on January 11, 1940, was a turning point in the history of Prokofiev's ballet. Lavrovsky initiated the writing of a new edition of the libretto and obtained the composer's consent to a number of alterations and the inclusion of additional numbers in the score, which helped the artists "come to terms" with this music (the dancers of the Kirov Theater also could not "at first sight" love it).

The performance of Lavrovsky and Peter Williams, the ballet designer, as a rule, was called a canvas in the press, the ballet painting of early Renaissance Italy looked so grandiose. In this performance, the love "red" line clearly ran between two hostile worlds, and the power of love was tenfold by the desire for freedom. In the person of lovers and their peers, the approach of the enlightened Renaissance declared itself. The sinister act of the Capulet clan fiercely defended its position in the gloomy Middle Ages. Evoking associations with Francois Villon or Francois Rabelais, he deduced Mercutio's own sarcastic theme. The rapier ringing of the vendetta was opposed by the quiet peace of the celli of the Franciscan pater Lorenzo. The Florentine dome of Brunelleschi hovered over the Verona Square, and the castle was filled with girls, as if descended from the paintings of Botticelli.

And her best part - Juliet was danced by Galina Ulanova, the legendary first performer of this role both in the Kirov Theater and in the Bolshoi. The part of Romeo was performed by her permanent partner Konstantin Sergeyev (in Moscow, Mikhail Gabovich will be the first Romeo). Lavrovsky's version combined literary generalization, cinema specificity and emotional reliability of the drama theater.

1939: Premiere chamber production in the Czech Ballet Brno

The Ballet Brno unexpectedly and boldly showed interest in staging the ballet. The world premiere of the chamber version of the ballet took place in this Czech city. The production was carried out and performed in the part of Romeo by choreographer Ivo Psota.

1936: Bolshoi Theater refuses to stage

For a year after the failure of the audition, the composer was in limbo, but in the end Bolshoi refused to stage.

Prokofiev explained the intention to save the lives of the heroes "choreographic reasons": "Living people can dance, dying people will not lie down." But then he did not yet have Leonid Lavrovsky in his co-authors, for whom this consideration did not become an obstacle and which the scene of the death of the heroes decided victoriously and masterly. True, he could have had such an opportunity two years earlier than the premiere at the Kirov Theater: it was assumed that he would stage Romeo and Juliet for the bicentennial anniversary of the Leningrad Choreographic School, but did not start work then.

As a result, the composer created two suites based on the music of the ballet, the premiere of which was successfully held in Paris.

1935: The Kirov Theater is not interested in ballet, Bolshoi orders music. Failure at the first audition

Prokofiev, by that time already the author of several one-act ballets created for Diaghilevskaya entreprise, comprehended the structure of the Soviet ballet of the "great style" at the viewing of another drama ballet, which was destined to survive to this day, the "Bakhchisarai Fountain." Initially, it was assumed that Rostislav Zakharov, who staged this ballet, would also work on the production of Romeo and Juliet. In May 1935, he even managed to take some part in the "scenario" development.

However, the agreement with the Kirov Theater was never concluded, but Bolshoi expressed interest in staging this ballet and ordered this music. The rough clavier of the future internationally recognized ballet was written in record time: in two months. October 4, 1935 - a sad but memorable date in the history of the Bolshoi Theater - an open audition took place in the Beethoven Hall, filled to capacity at the beginning and practically empty at the end. Even the fact that the author himself was at the piano did not stop the audience.

Perhaps the most famous story about love in the world cannot but provoke "tricky" thoughts about what would happen to Romeo and Juliet, if they remain alive. No, the co-authors of the libretto with Prokofiev at the head, of course, did not at all intend to give a detailed answer to this question, but happy for the final was scheduled. In the original edition, Verona lovers did not die "contrary" to Shakespeare's text, which was met, to put it mildly, with disapproval. And not just the Shakespeareans who attended the ill-fated audition. As for the artists and musicians, they found the music of the ballet "unprecedented," unsuitable for dance. The case has stalled.

1934: Chapter "Lenfilm" Adrian Piotrovsky offers Prokofiev the plot of "Romeo and Juliet" for ballet

The history of the creation of the ballet Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev-Lavrovsky linked the Bolshoi Theater and Mariinsky with an inextricable thread (at that time - GATOB and a little later the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theater). 1934. Sergei Radlov, then the head of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater, invited his longtime acquaintance and chess partner Sergei Prokofiev to compose a ballet on the plot of the tragedy Romeo and Juliet. (Subsequently, Lavrovsky will write that although Radlov had nothing to do with the final version of the libretto, he nevertheless considered it necessary to keep his name in the list of authors, since it was Radlov who owned the idea of ​ ​ choosing this Shakespeare play as the literary source).

Meanwhile, in the composer's presentation of events, the authorship of the idea was "attributed" to another person - the playwright, critic, theater host and in addition to the artistic director of Lenfilm Adrian Piotrovsky: "At the end of December (1934) I returned to Leningrad specifically for negotiations with the Kirov Theater. I expressed my desire to find a lyrical plot for ballet... They began to sort through the plots: Piotrovsky called "Pelleas and Melisande '," Tristan and Isolde', "Romeo and Juliet '. In the last plot, I immediately "clung" - it's better not to find! " But in the premiere posters of 1940, Piotrovsky's name could not appear in any case: in the 37th he was repressed and shot.