New York City Ballet

Susan Yung | September 10, 2007

In his new Romeo + Juliet for New York City Ballet, Peter Martins gambled by casting youngsters in the lead roles, and his bet paid off. Presented at the New York State Theater in May, the ballet showed the company’s technical depth spotlighting several excellent corps dancers. But despite its surefire story and Sergei Prokofiev’s magnificent score, the production has some serious flaws.

Martins’s choreography is uncharacteristically subdued, more rote classroom exercise than his usual hyperactive and knotty combinations. Yet he has crafted some moving moments. The leads’ duets feature lifts gradually increasing in height, promenades in which Juliet dips delicately to one knee and a tender kiss where their bowed arms meet to form an infinity symbol.

The young dancers certainly pulled their weight. Petite Kathryn Morgan was sublime as Juliet, demonstrating control and stamina. The muscular Seth Orza danced a devoted, stoic Romeo. Together, they were breathlessly romantic. Tiler Peck and Sean Suozzi made a dynamic, fiery pair. Peck was strong, centered and quick, although her exuberance and big smiles felt too contemporary. Suozzi handled the role’s impassioned acting duties well. Sterling Hyltin and Robert Fairchild inhabited the roles with a satisfying balance of youthful vigor and steadfastness. Hyltin’s long limbs accentuated every arabesque, and Fairchild used his poetic melancholy to full advantage.

This casting raises some issues, however. How must the youngest principals feel? If corps dancers or apprentices start at the top, where do they go next? In fact, several of the title-role dancers were promoted during the ballet’s run. Soloist rank was long overdue for Orza and Suozzi, but principal status seems premature for Hyltin.

Daniel Ulbricht (also promoted to principal) was impressively high-flying and at ease as Mercutio. As Tybalt, Amar Ramasar showed his acting range while Joaquín de Luz delivered a strong presence and polished sword-fighting. The other swordsmen could use more practice. The most forceful violence comes when Lord Capulet (Jock Soto) slaps Juliet to the ground, however; and when Romeo brutally wraps his cape around Tybalt’s head (shades of Abu Ghraib) and stabs him in the back.

The production’s chief flaw is Per Kirkeby’s compact set design, which awkwardly functions as bedroom, ballroom and balcony. Its cartoonish style hovers between abstraction and realism, making the dancers look like performers in a school pageant. Kirkeby’s artist’s touch is better reflected on the front scrim, which abstractly if garishly evokes nature, man’s interference and the ensuing chaos. His costumes, designed with Kirsten Lund Nielsen, code Montagues and Capulets in warm and cool tones, but some were extremely unflattering. Despite the drawbacks, Romeo + Juliet will likely find a spot on the company’s future schedule, to the delight of corps members eyeing promotions.

*Susan Yung writes about dance and culture in New York.