Cheap Romeo and Juliet (Royal Ballet)- Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn (DVD) (Paul Czinner) Price

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Customer Reviews of Romeo and Juliet (Royal Ballet)- Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn

Expected to give it four stars, it gets five!
While I thought that this DVD of Rudolf Nureyev's and Dame Margot Fonteyn's performances of Romeo and Juliet in the 1966 Royal Ballet production would be good, I did not expect it to be this good! While I appreciate Leonard Maltin's saying (above) that a DVD is a poor sustitute for a live performance, it is now 2000, this is a DVD and it's all I've got of it, not having had the opportunity to see it live, and I am thankful to have it. I must say that regardless of what was taking place in the ballet at any particular time, and regardless of how dimly lit the stage was at any particular time, I did not find somberness and bleakness at all. On the contrary, but I lack the right words to express this in the way that it should be expressed and to the extent to which it should be expressed. Also, I was pleasantly surprised, after having read some comments about it , by the fact that while of course Dame Marot Fonteyn did not look extremely young, she did not appear to me to be much too old to play the part and I disagree that somehow she was not up to the demands of her role and that, in contrast to her, Nureyev was. I think they BOTH were...and that they did beautifully. Also, although I have minimal (but adequate) equipment on which to see DVDs, I do not think that the Audio somehow rates only a 4/10 as another reviewer suggested, I think-I would give it a 8/10. Additionally, I don't know what was meant by the fact (one rewiewer said) that you will see scan lines and other video artifacts (etc.), I didn't see anything of the kind. Also, I did not think that the close ups made anything less of the whole and should somehow not have been included because they somehow destroyed the illusion because they did not. I suppose that it does depend on what kind of screen you are viewing this DVD on and I must be the first to say that mine is not large, but not only did I not see every one of Dame Margot Fonteyn's wrinkles at any time, I didn't see ANY of her wrinkles. While I thought the costumes were excellent, I would not describe them as "dazzling", but simply appropriate. Finally, I must not have read Rudolf Nureyev's biographical information carefully enough because I do not remember reading that she had anything to do with his defection-I thought that their partnership occurred afterwards, but I'll check that out. In any case this is a beautiful production of the ballet Romeo and Juliet (if I am not mistaken, Prokofiev's ballet, I may have read elswehere, is quite faithful to Shakespeare's play scene by scene)and I highly recommend it!

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Nureyev and Fonteyn in a perfect union of dance and drama
In 1965 I saw Nureyev and Fonteyn dance 'Romeo And Juliet' at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago (I still have the program) and can attest to Maltin's comment that "zoom lens is a poor substitute for live performance". While those gorgeous moments will remain forever with me I would not forgo for an instant the pleasure of viewing what Czinner captured in his 1966 film of this ballet. This is dance drama as only Nureyev and Fonteyn could create it, and I don't believe it has ever been surpassed.

MacMillan created his 'Romeo And Juliet' not for Nureyev and Fonteyn but for Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable, and Gable was bitterly disappointed when his role was given over to Nureyev who didn't hesitate to inject his own changes into the choreography. Nureyev was perfectly cast as a randy Renaissance playboy suddenly entranced by Juliet's demure girlish innocence so perfectly projected by Fonteyn. She was forty-six at the time yet through her dancing she transformed herself into a romantically inspired teenager. The experience of this in the theater was stunning, as one is not diverted by camera close-ups, but even in the film I find myself thoroughly convinced by her portrayal. Of all the ballets that Nureyev and Fonteyn danced together this one most perfectly captured the contrasts in their personas that made their partnership so unique. He has been described as "fire", she as "light", and the synergy between them was unforgetable in this ballet.

In his choreography MacMillan does a masterful job of characterizing Romeo who in the opening scene makes a play for Tybalt's girlfriend, Rosaline, dances in abandon with the harlots of the town, and then pursue Rosaline to the Capulet's ball. In contrast we meet Juliet playing with a doll in her anteroom and shying timidly away from her suitor, Paris. But at the ball Juliet plays the mandolin and Romeo, intruding himself, dances for her generating a spellbinding attraction between them that flowers into the balcony scene. Juliet gives herself to him, timidly at first but then freely in an exquisite pas-de-deux by which all subsequent performances by other dancers must be judged.

Czinner's film of this ballet is filled with memorable moments; Desmond Doyle's outstanding portrayal of the menacing; treacherous Tybalt; David Blair's rendition of Mercutio's death; Romeo and Juliet's parting pas-de-deux filled with tenderness, longing, and grief (Shakespeare's words, "Oh thinkest thou we shall ever meet again?" fill the moment). But of all it is perhaps the tomb scene that remains the most vivid.

Hearing of Juliet's death Romeo invades the Capulet's tomb, dispathes Paris, and mourns over Juliet's body. In Nureyev's lifts of Fonteyn's limp body he recreates a semblance of their balcony and bedroom trysts, pathetically trying to dance life into her once again, until overcome at last he takes poison and dies. Juliet awakens and now it is Fonteyn's turn to match Nureyev's sorrow and desperation as she realizes the tragic consequences of her failed plan. The poignancy of their deaths is so well realized the one felt a sense of relief when at last Rudi and Margo materialized before the curtain to take their tumultous curtain calls. This ballet is a perfect marriage of Prokofiev's sumptuous score, MacMillan's evocative choreography, the exquisite dancing of Nureyev and Fonteyn, and we are most fortunate to have it all preserved in Czinner's film, a "must own" for every lover of dance.

One might indeed believe that Rudi defected in June 1961 to dance with Margo but the truth is that he was about to be arrested by the KGB in Paris and sent back to Russia. He threw himself upon the mercy of the French police, escaped, danced with the Cuevas company in Paris, and then with the Royal Danish Ballet. He didn't dance with Fonteyn until February 1962.

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Intriguing and Historically Important
"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet"--William Shakespeare

The Royal Ballet's "Romeo and Juliet" is the most popular version of this ballet. The music is intriguing, and it was written by Serge Prokofiev. The promotional copy on the VCR dust jacket states that Prokofiev's score "has been recognized as the first great full-length ballet score since Tchaikowsky's classics." The choreography is by Kenneth MacMillan. The lead roles are danced by Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev--the most famous dance partnership of the twentieth century.

Fonteyn's performance is good, but not great. It is important to keep in mind that she was born in 1919 and that she was nearing the end of a long career when this was filmed in 1966. (The best dancing of Juliet that I have ever seen is by Alessandra Ferri in a 1984 recording of the Royal Ballet; unfortunately, the exquisite Ferri didn't have nearly as talented dancers surrounding her.) In this production, there are not many women who dance on pointe: only Juliet and her six friends. All of the rest of the women in the cast wear character shoes.

Nureyev does the lion's share of the dancing in this production. He dances solo; he dances with his two friends, Mercutio and Benvolio; he dances with Juliet; and he also dances with some other women, as well. When he receives the note from Juliet's nurse stating that Juliet wants to marry him, he whips off a series of extremely fast chaine turns. He can spin like a top! Nureyev is clearly in his prime here.

Paul Czinner is responsible for turning this performance into a motion picture. The camera angles are very well thought out. Some reviewers have complained about the close-ups of Fonteyn's face. There are a few camera angles that show her age, but there are also some nice shots of her smiling. I particularly enjoy the close-up of her face while she is struggling to repel the advances of Paris (Derek Rencher), the rejected suitor. There are also many winning close-up shots of the other prominent dancers. The question of Juliet's age isn't pertinent to only this ballet, but it is an issue with many reviewers of the non-ballet, movie versions of "Romeo and Juliet," as well. This is something that each viewer needs to resolve for themselves. It doesn't bother me, however, because I think that Fonteyn's experience makes her good theatrically.

There is a comprehensive analysis of this ballet by Robert Greskovic in his excellent book "Ballet 101: A Complete Guide to Learning & Loving the Ballet" (1998). He writes, "The major Soviet precursor to MacMillan's 'Romeo and Juliet' is Leonid Lavrovsky's 1940 Leningrad Kirov Ballet's. It's realism, however, was more in the vein of Social Realism than a 'verismo' realist one. Soviet Social Realism had an agenda that accentuated the corrupt or negative aspects of merchant and aristocratic characters while promoting the goodness and purity of innocent common folk....

"Physically and spiritually, MacMillan's 'Romeo' owes something to Lavrovsky's way with ballet. By 1965, Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet had toured the West with its staging of Lavrovsky's ballet and impressed audiences with its acrobatic aspects, especially with regard to partnering and lifts, as well as regarding such simple, forthright features as how ballerinas ran and leapt. Still, there was a chasteness and a kind of formal reserve in the fabric of Lavrovsky's aesthetic that MacMillan chose to bypass in favor of a more nakedly emotional effect.

"It wasn't only from aesthetics bred behind the Iron Curtain that MacMillan departed. His ways of conceiving and working ballet theater also went in a direction different from that of his own mentors and predecessors in England, primarily Ashton. As we shall see, MacMillan's realistic interests didn't prevent him from having his dancers get literally if not figuratively 'down and dirty' with their dancing. His lack of reticence about letting his ballerina/heroine get dragged along the floor in moments of fulsome emotion prompted some naysaying along lines such as: 'In ballet, people make love on their feet, not on the floor.'" (pp. 450-451) Note: the Greskovic book, "Ballet 101," is also available through Amazon.com.

Remember how it was mentioned earlier that Romeo dances with a number of "other women" in this production? Some of those women happen to be harlots--at least, that's what the credits call them. Romeo and his two friends meet up and dance with three harlots in the Market Place (act one, scene one). As the first act progresses, Romeo meets Juliet, and they dance the famous balcony scene together. But, in act two, we find Romeo back in the Market Place. He initially repels the advances of his favorite harlot, but before too long he is "dancing" with her again. Another interesting point involves the women's hair styles. In classical ballet, women usually wear their hair up, but in this production there are four exceptions to that rule: the three harlots and Juliet all wear their hair down. You can decide for yourself whether that is significant.

This video is of historic importance because of the Fonteyn/Nureyev partnership. They were the ones who really made this ballet famous internationally. Although Fonteyn is past her prime, Nureyev is in great form here. The Royal Ballet is very strong theatrically, and the costumes and scenery are all top-quality. A one-star reduction in the overall rating of this title is deserved because of the character of MacMillan's Romeo.