Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet - Teatro alla Scala

Alessandra Ferri (Juliet), Angel Corella (Romeo)
Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala
David Garforth

Choreography by Kenneth MacMillan, adapted by Monica Parker, Georgina Parkinson & Julie Lincoln. The revival of the classically choreographed version of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet by senior choreographer Kenneth MacMillan enjoyed a phenomenal success at La Scala in January 2000: it was the first time that Alessandra Ferri and Angel Corella, the acclaimed stars of the American Ballet Theatre, had danced together on stage. Hailed by the Italian press as the “new star couple”, they both brought to their roles the youthfulness and innocence reflected in Prokofiev’s music: Juliet, the young, inexperienced adolescent girl who puts all her faith in her feelings of love and suffers the heights of passion as well as the depths of despair, and Romeo, the carefree young man certain of his feelings as a lover, ready to turn the established order on its head as a result, and knowing no bounds in his love for Juliet. The intensive role-play of the two protagonists turns the lovers’ tragic end into a disaster that we experience with them, transcending the conventions of the story’s familiarand thus predictable close. Romeo is one of the favourite roles of the Spanish dancer Angel Corella and, indeed, the part of the fiery young man seems tailor-made for him. He combines virtuoso technique with well-defined performance qualities, and it is easy to believe his assertion that he loves being an actor as much as he loves being a dancer. He once said: “Dancing is just dancing, and soon you get to a point where you have to turn when you have to turn, or you have to jump. What is fun for the dancers is to create something out of the dancing – a personality.” Taking on this particular “personality” means he is the ideal partner for Alessandra Ferri, who is being acclaimed in the USA as the “Anna Magnani of ballet”. For the dancer born in Milan, this performance brings her back to her roots, when she began her career training with the ballet school of La Scala before attending the Royal Ballet School in London. After several years with the Royal Ballet, in 1985 she went as a prima ballerina to the American Ballet Theatre, where she and Angel Corella have been colleagues since 1995.

REPERTOIRE:
Sergei Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet