Star-Crossed Teenage Lovers:
Houston Ballet Presents Shakespeare's Epic Romeo and Juliet

From June 7-17, 2012, Houston Ballet will revive its lavish production of Romeo and Juliet, choreographed by Ben Stevenson. In the ballet, two teenagers from warring families meet, fall in love and rush headlong towards their romantic destiny. With its magnificent evocation of Renaissance Italy by David Walker and Prokofiev's gorgeous score, the flagship production brings this classic love story thrillingly to life.

Houston Ballet's production of Romeo and Juliet has played a key role in the history of the company. In September 1987, the ballet's world premiere inaugurated the opening of Houston Ballet's opulent new home theater, the $72 million Wortham Theater Center in downtown Houston – a milestone in the company's development. In July 1995, Houston Ballet was the first full American company to be invited by the Chinese government to tour the People's Republic of China. A performance of Romeo and Juliet at Beijing's Exhibition Theater launched the two-and-half-week tour to Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. The opening night performance of Romeo and Juliet was broadcast live on Chinese television, with officials estimating that an audience of 500 million viewed the telecast.

"Romeo and Juliet is part of Houston Ballet's history," commented Mr. Welch. "Many of Houston Ballet's dancers have passed through this ballet and we are keeping up the tradition. Every dancer wants to perform the leading roles in this production because it's an important part of an artist's growth. In fact, every dancer needs to do this ballet. We will have a lot of wonderful new Romeo's and Juliet's in these performances."

Houston Ballet most recently performed Romeo and Juliet in March 2005, with Molly Glentzer, dance critic for the Houston Chronicle, noting that, "the pas de deux are meltingly good, soaking up the Prokofiev score's emotional sweep. And the grand ball scene perfectly and simply evokes the deep-throated grandeur of the score's most thrilling section."

Writing in the January 1988 edition of Dance Magazine, critic Josie Neal observed at Romeo and Juliet's premiere, "Stevenson has an eye for grand drama, and it serves him well here, with sweepingly regal dances in the ballroom scene, robust dances and swashbuckling swordplay in the marketplace scenes, and poignant pas de deux, all of them an apt expression of the ravishing Prokofiev score."

Prokofiev's 1935 score and Shakespeare's dramatic play have inspired many notable choreographers. In 1940, Leonid Lavrovsky created the first Soviet production for Kirov Ballet. Among other treatments of the work are Sir Frederick Ashton (for Royal Danish Ballet in 1955), John Cranko (for La Scala Ballet, Milan in 1958, revised for Stuttgart Ballet in 1962), Sir Kenneth MacMillan (for The Royal Ballet in 1965), John Neumeier (for Royal Danish Ballet in 1974), and Rudolf Nureyev (for London Festival Ballet in 1977; also staged for La Scala in 1980 and Paris Opera Ballet in 1984).

The ballet's story is exceedingly simple, yet stunning in its emotional force. Set in 16th century Verona, Romeo and Juliet chronicles the romance of two beautiful Italian teenagers from families on opposing sides of a bitter feud. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet first meet at a masked ball, fall headlong in love during a romantic encounter on the girl's balcony, and are secretly wed with the aid of Friar Laurence and Juliet's nurse.

The central love story is played out against a backdrop of violence, enmity, and conflict. The two lovers find themselves trapped in a vicious web of circumstance. After a bloody confrontation in the marketplace with Tybalt, a relative of Juliet's, Romeo is banished from Verona. When Juliet's parents insist that she marry the nobleman Paris, Juliet takes a potion that will give her the appearance of death, but allow her to escape and be reunited with Romeo. The two young lovers are indeed reunited in the devastating climax of the ballet in the Capulet family crypt.