Romeo and Juliet is the most famous ballet by Prokofiev and the most ever popular ballet about love. This choreographic version of the tragedy by Shakespeare was first seen on the Mariinsky Theatre stage in 1940. It had been staged by Leonid Lavrovsky, who closely worked with Prokofiev on this production. This is an amazingly touching and thrilling performance.
The Daily Telegraph: "From the present day point of view, the production has many positive qualities: the clearly defined story line; the elegant, refined dance, the lyrical duets; the sets by Pyotr Williams, the faded grandeur of which precisely conveys the atmosphere of Renaissance Italy. Here, too, absolute faith and self-giving from the two lovers, from the very depths of their souls, is essential. It is this that is brought to the ballet by the soloists of the Mariinsky Ballet Company. They are stunning; they are of those dancers who, it would appear, know instinctively that they are born for the stage"

The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre presents the premiere of the ballet Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev.

The director Konstantin Bogomolov and choreographer Maxim Sevagin actualize the plot and deprive it of the touch of a romantic fairy tale. The action of Shakespeare’s drama is transferred from the Middle Ages to the present day and develops at once on two parallel plot levels. On one of them, the modern Romeo and Juliet come to a tragic Shakespearean ending. The parallel level presents an alternative version, where the characters choose to live.