One of the best aspects of watching the NYCB’s Romeo + Juliet on PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center last evening was the remote control. After experiencing several minutes of anguish while watching the dancers cavort about in their leprechaun green draperies, Haglund discovered that he could use the remote control to switch off ALL of the color. So he did, and subsequently found that watching the production in black and white was a less offensive experience.
But all in all, these dancers deserve better, much better.
Peter Martins’s desperate borrowing of many creative aspects from Kenneth MacMillan’s genius choreography was low class, and the close camera angles last night made the borrowings all the more apparent.
Robert Fairchild and Sterling Hyltin as R+J danced superbly with some light weight dramatic input. But what should we expect given the virtual absence of theatrical training at the institution? In any event, it was nice to see these wonderful dancers featured so prominently. And Joaquin De Luz was a credible Tibalt who delivered an all around good performance with impressive fencing.
For Peter Martin's production, however, Haglund awards this pile of crocks:
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