Romeo and Juliet

The Monegasque ensemble will perform the famous ballet inspired by William Shakespeare's tragedy, in the production – presented for the first time at the Monte-Carlo Opera in 1996 – which uses sets by Ernest Pignon-Ernest, costumes by Jérôme Kaplan and lighting design by Dominique Drillot.

Starting from the idea that everyone knows the story of Romeo and Juliet, Jean-Cristophe Maillot has adopted a choreographic perspective that avoids paraphrasing Shakespeare's literary monument: rather than following step by step the dispute between Capulets and Montagues until its tragic epilogue, the choreographer revisits the tragedy following an original point of view. The ballet transports us into the tormented soul of Friar Laurence, who, wanting to do good, ultimately causes the death of the two lovers. Romeo and Juliet by Jean-Christophe Maillot is the flashback of this shocked religious man who, at the end of the drama, wonders how it could have come to this. This starting point enlightens us on the sensitivity of the choreographer, who interprets the story narrated in the Shakespearean tragedy not as a social conflict or a fight between clans regulated by a code of honor, but on the contrary as a fortuitous drama that causes the death of two boys more taken by the games of love than by those of hate.

A choreography that upsets the codes of classical dance in what is most traditional, while at the same time preserving its momentum, energy and timeless grace. Romeo and Juliet is a cornerstone of Maillot's repertoire: a classical vocabulary with a contemporary syntax always at the crossroads of multiple artistic disciplines.

Program and cast

ARTISTS

Conductor: Garrett Keast

Choreography: Jean-Christophe Maillott

Sets: Ernest Pignon-Ernest

Costumes: Jérôme Kaplan

Lights: Dominique Drillot

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra