DVD + Blu-Ray:
Critics' Choice - Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet

Kenneth MacMillan's first full-evening ballet has become one of The Royal Ballet's signature works, featuring Lauren Cuthbertson & Federico Bonelli.

The Opus Arte Critics’ Choice series is a diverse range of titles, featuring some of the most acclaimed recordings in the label’s catalogue at a very special price. In this series we celebrate many famous classics while also revisiting some of the more innovative, original and perhaps less well-known productions that the label has long been renowned for showcasing. All the new Critics' Choice releases contain the beautifully designed, original artwork and colour booklets which, along with a new unique cover design uniting all the titles, makes them ideal for collectors.

Given its premiere by The Royal Ballet in 1965 with Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn dancing the title roles, Kenneth MacMillan’s first full evening ballet has become a signature work for the Company, enjoying
great popularity around the world.

From the outset, the production teems with life and colour as the townspeople, market traders and servants of the rival Montagues and Capulets go about their daily business in vibrant crowd scenes. But Romeo and Juliet take centre stage for those great pas de deux: the meeting in the ballroom, the balcony scene, the morning after the wedding and the final devastating tomb scene.

Although The Royal Ballet has performed Romeo and Juliet over 400 times, each performance and pairing is subtly different and Lauren Cuthbertson and Federico Bonelli are utterly captivating in the title roles.

"... [the] performance exemplified the Royal Ballet’s high standards of seamless, naturalistic and musically attentive dance acting." (The New York Times)

Genre Ballet
Dance Company The Royal Ballet
Choreography by Kenneth MacMillan
Composer Sergei Prokofiev
Conductor Barry Wordsworth
Orchestra / Band Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Recording location Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Production year 2012
Stage Director Monica Mason; Christopher Saunders
Soloist Lauren Cuthbertson
Soloist Federico Bonelli
Soloist Alexander Campbell
Soloist Bennet Gartside
Soloist Valeri Hristov
Soloist Christopher Saunders