'Romeo et Juliette' at Pacific Northwest Ballet

In January 2008, Pacific Northwest Ballet brought Jean-Christophe Maillot's masterful "Rom�o et Juliette" to Seattle for its west coast premiere, making PNB the first American company to perform the work.

This three-act interpretation of Shakespeare's great love story was premiered in 1996 by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, where Maillot is resident choreographer and artistic director. His contemporary interpretation has been hailed throughout the world as "one of the most beautiful ballets adapted from Shakespeare's masterpiece that can be seen today" (Sc�nes Magazine), and instantly became an audience favorite and a signature work in PNB's repertory.

Now, eight years after its Seattle debut, this unforgettable three-act interpretation of Shakespeare's great love story returns as PNB continues its 2015-2016 Season. (Audience Advisory: Content may not be appropriate for young children.)

A CONTEMPORARY INTERPRETATION OF SHAKESPEARE'S TRAGEDY

Choreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot

Music by Sergei Prokofiev (Op. 64, 1935-36)

February 5 - 14, 2016
Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
321 Mercer Street at Seattle Center
Seattle, WA 98109

February 5 at 7:30 pm
February 6 at 2:00 and 7:30 pm
February 11 - 13 at 7:30 pm
February 14 at 1:00 and 6:30 pm

"A remarkable work...this is like no Romeo and Juliet ballet you've seen before: It's intricate, often achingly beautiful, and never simply pretty." -The Seattle Times

"A tour-de-force requiring not only high-quality dancing but committed acting in this symbolic, abstract version of the Shakespearean love story. Maillot's choreography is exciting and energizing, a feast of styles densely packed together, and the PNB dancers revel in it." -Tacoma News Tribune

Rom�o et Juliette runs for eight performances only, February 5 through 14 at Seattle Center's Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Showtimes are 7:30 pm February 5, 6, 11, 12 and 13, with matinees at 2:00 pm on February 6 and 1:00 pm on February 14, and a final 6:30 pm performance on February 14. Tickets start at $30 and may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at www.PNB.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer St.

ABOUT THE BALLET

"Rom�o et Juliette"
Music: Sergei Prokofiev (Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64, 1935-1936)
Choreography: Jean-Christophe Maillot
Staging: Gaby Baars, Bernice Coppieters, and Giovanna Lorenzoni
Scenic Design: Ernest Pignon-Ernest
Costume Design: J�r�me Kaplan
Lighting Design: Dominique Drillot
Premiere: December 23, 1996: Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
Pacific Northwest Ballet Premiere: January 31, 2008
Running Time: 2 hours, 25 minutes

From "West Side Story" to "Twilight," Shakespeare's great romance seems always to find new interpretation, and its tale of forbidden love has been especially enticing to the dance world. Peter Boal was so mesmerized by Jean-Christophe Maillot's "Rom�o et Juliette" when he attended its New York debut in 1999, that it became his first full-length acquisition for PNB as artistic director. Though Maillot's "Rom�o et Juliette" is firmly grounded in classical ballet, his choreography is imbued with natural and intuitive movement that feels progressive and expands margins of expression. As the famous story of star-crossed lovers unfolds, the dancers' swimming hands, flying arms, and off-kilter balances speak for racing hearts, reckless impulses, and inner turmoil. Stage action is brought into high relief by the ballet's spare and elegant design. Great washes of blue and gold light reflect the magnitude of Prokofiev's dramatic score, and the piercing elation and lament of young love project like Hollywood close-ups.

Sergei Prokofiev's glorious ballet score is frequently called his masterpiece. Its thematic melodies-by turns sweetly tender, sweepingly passionate, hotly fierce and chillingly eerie-provide counterpoint and impart eloquent support to the narrative. In his version of "Rom�o et Juliette," choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot has taken formal inspiration from the episodic character of Prokofiev's classic score, structuring the action in a manner akin to cinematic narrative. Rather than focusing on themes of political-social opposition between the two feuding clans, this "Romeo and Juliet" highlights the dualities and ambiguities of adolescence. Torn between contradictory impulses, between tenderness and violence, fear and pride, the lovers are caught in the throes of a tragedy that exemplifies their youth and the extreme emotions and internal conflicts that characterize that time of life-a time of life when destiny, more than at any other moment, seems to escape conscious control, and when the inner turmoil occasioned by passions and ideals can sometimes have disproportionate-even fatal-consequences. In evoking this fragile and volatile state of being, scenic designer Ernest Pignon-Ernest has created a decor marked by transparency and lightness: a play of simple forms that reveals an underlying complexity of meaning.

[Notes reprinted by permission of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.]