Romeo and Juliet, a timeless story told with heart
By Armand Kovacs, 17.06.2019
The Royal Opera House in London is one of the most prestigious and well-known performance art venues in the entire world and it is always a privilege and a delight to attend any of their shows. Of course, it would be extremely difficult for the ROH to house all the people who wish to see its shows. Therefore, they actually made it possible to see the performances live throughout cinemas in the entire world.
In Luxembourg these screenings are held at the Centre National de l’Audiovisuel in Dudelange.
This week we were lucky enough to attend the live performance of the classic Romeo and Juliet by Kenneth MacMillan, one of the great masterpieces of 20th century ballet.
Of course, we all know the timeless story of the two lovers of Verona, a story which has been told so many times in so many different and exceptional ways. Therefore, I will not focus on the Shakespeare’s story but more on the performance itself.
Apart from the expected ballet excellence of the entire cast which itself is a powerful enough motive to see the show, I was deeply impressed by the strong emphasis on internal emotions of the characters themselves. This way the artists truly immersed us into a story that we already knew so well, capturing our interest by showing us realistic and soulful takes on the characters they were playing. A highlight of the performance was Yasmine Naghdi who gave us a marvelous rendition of Juliet.
Last but not least, it always is a pleasure to hear Sergey Prokofiev’s timeless masterpieces which the orchestra flawlessly performed and with which they managed to immerse us completely in Kenneth MacMillan’s universe.
If you are interested in what the CNA does, you can find their website here. If you want to see more of the Royal Opera House’s repertoire you can find it here.