Dance review: Romeo and Juliet

Back in 1965, the premiere, although an outstanding success, was bittersweet for MacMillan. Due to box office demands and company politics, on opening night the two lovers were danced by Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, despite MacMillan having created the roles on Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable. Watching the wonderful choreography now, it is easy to see how well suited it was for Seymour and Gable: joyous, dangerous and full of youthful passion.

Rarely out of the repertoire for long during the past six decades, Romeo and Juliet has given subsequent generations of dancers plenty of opportunities to shine. On opening night this time around, Yasmine Naghdi danced the doomed heroine, with Matthew Ball her Romeo. Theirs is a faultless partnership and a thing of beauty: impetuous, soaring lifts; passionate embraces and, by the end, utter devastation.

Naghdi has a beautiful “line” and her progress from shy teenager hiding behind her nurse’s skirts to a young woman transported by the power of love is fascinating to watch. The final scene in the crypt, where a distraught Romeo dances with what he thinks is dead Juliet just tears at your heart. The macabre pas de deux echoes their earlier balcony pas de deux, but now the lifts are more desperate as the tragedy looms swiftly towards its dreadful climax.

Ryoichi Hirano was a nasty Tybalt, exuding menace and dominating the stage (the bright red costume helps) from his very first entrance. Joseph Sissens made the most of Mercutio, dazzling the audience with a winning combination of virtuosity and cheekiness, making his final outburst – the mime equivalent of “a plague o’ both your houses” – truly shocking.

This is a wonderful ballet for the whole company and everyone, from the youngest corps de ballet member to all the principals, gives it their all – and then some.

Koen Kessels brought out the best from the orchestra, but then, Prokofiev’s score always works it magic – those soaring strings! His music for the last scene never fails to move me to tears.

Romeo and Juliet is on at the Royal Opera House until the end of May. Go see it.