Romeo and Juliet at Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is one of the oldest and most well-known tragic love stories ever put to pen. The love story between Romeo and Juliet is set against the background of a deep conflict between the young lovers’ two families – The Montagues and the Capulets. Shakespeare’s melodrama has been told many times in both art and music, but perhaps none as beautifully and as emotionally as with dance in the famous story ballet set to the opulent score composed by Sergei Prokofiev.

“Romeo and Juliet is one of the most beautiful scores of the 20th century, and certainly one of the greatest compositions for the ballet stage, on a par with the great Tchaikovsky ballets.” (npr.org). Prokofiev composed the music for Romeo and Juliet for Russia’s Kirov Ballet in 1935. Unlike Shakespeare’s tragic play, Prokofiev’s plan with its original composition was for the ballet to end happily, “with Juliet resurrected in her tomb in a joyous pas de deux for the two lovers.” (101 Stories of the Great Ballets by Georges Balanchine and Francis Moon) He received great criticism for this approach, and ultimately, his composition, and the subsequent story-telling though dance by renowned choreographers, kept the piece true to Shakespeare’s tragic ending.

Set to original choreography by Septime Webre, Romeo and Juliet comes to life on the Mead Theatre Stage of the world-class Schuster Center under the careful attention of Dayton Ballet Artistic Director Karen Russo Burke. The full Dayton Ballet company takes the stage to tell the dramatic tale with breathtaking athleticism, creativity, and movement inspired by Prokofiev’s masterful score.

Joining Dayton Ballet for this performance, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, under the leadership of Artistic Director and Conductor Neal Gittleman, takes the audience on the desperate journey of Prokofiev’s score, thorough youth and age, through the lightness of love, the rawness of intense outrage and violence, and the sadness and anguish of death. “This is a play that ends unhappily, but it contains some extraordinary music along the way to its tragic ending.” (npr.org) And the Dayton Philharmonic pulls at our hearts with every note of Prokofiev’s masterpiece.

With the DPO providing the music as the backdrop, Dayton Ballet masterfully tells the story of the star-crossed lovers whose well-known fate is filled with sorrow. In stunning costumes by Chistina Giannini, Dayton Ballet dancers bring the story to life, complete with spectacular partnering, outstanding solos, masterful sword-fighting, an exquisite pas de deux, and a heart-wrenching conclusion that will leave you desperate for this story to end happily, just this once. Come feel the passion, the love, and the agonizing heart-break of the most tragic love story of all time, Romeo and Juliet.