How to Go:
What: "Romeo and Juliet" presented by the Dayton Ballet Company. Accompanied by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra under the leadership of artistic director and conductor Neal Gittleman.
When: 8 p.m. Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2 and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 3.
Where: Schuster Center, 1 W. Second St., Dayton
Tickets: Priced from $11 to $61 and available at Ticket Center Stage (937) 228-3630 or online at www.daytonperformingarts.org. Senior, teacher and student discounts available at box office.
ALSO: One hour before each performance, artistic director Karen Russo Burke will hold a pre-performance talk called "The First Step" in the lobby of the Upper Balcony of the Schuster Center. "Behind the Ballet," a Q&A with dancers, takes place after each show.
UPCOMING UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON PROGRAMS INCLUDE:
* Love, Censorship, Art and the State: Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet” – 10:10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 30. at UD’s Sears Recital Hall, 300 College Park, Dayton. Panelists David Darrow (Department of History, University Honors Program), Sam Dorf (Department of Music) and Masha Kisel (Department of English) will place Prokofiev and Piotrovsky’s ballet based on Shakespeare’s play in context by exploring pre-Soviet, Soviet, and post-Soviet tensions between censorship, art, love and the State. Sponsored by the UD Honors Program, UD Department of Music, and the UD Department of English. This event is free and open to the public.
• “(Re)Composing Romeo and Juliet” from 11 a..m. to 12:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 21 at UD’s Sears Recital Hall, 300 College Park, Dayton. A conversation, with musical interludes, about Shakepeare’s composition and later recompositions, examining how the play has written itself into our culture as the perfect expression of romantic love, youthful idealism, rebellion and individual rights. Sponsored by UD Department of English, UD Department of Music and the Graul Chair in Arts and Languages. This event is free and open to the public.
• “Shakespeare as You Like It: From the Bard to Broadway ” at 8 p.m. on Monday, April 11 at the Kennedy Union Ballroom. This spring student concert is a culmination of the University of Dayton Opera Workshop, featuring musical settings of Shakespeare’s work ranging from classic opera to “West Side Story.”
For more information about the University of Dayton’s “Rites.Rights.Writes.” initiative, visit https://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/endowedchair/graul/rrw/index.php.
“For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
— William Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet”
If the presidential race isn’t providing enough conflict and drama, you want might to consider the Montagues and the Capulets.
That classic family feud — and the story of the two young lovers who are hurt by it — will be interpreted through dance when the Dayton Ballet Company presents “Romeo and Juliet” on Friday, April 1 through Sunday, April 3 at the Schuster Center.
The ballet is choreographed by Septime Webre, artistic director of the Washington Ballet, and has been performed in Dayton a number of times over the years. Webre is in the news at the moment; he has recently announced he’ll be stepping down in June in order to spend more time creating new work.
What’s new for this production is the addition of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, under the leadership of artistic director and conductor Neal Gittleman. The “Romeo and Juliet” score, composed by Sergei Prokofiev, has been called “one of the most beautiful scores of the 20th century” and “one of the greatest compositions for the ballet stage.”
Gittleman agrees. “I think Projofiev’s score for ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is right up there with the greatest ballet scores of all time: ‘Swan Lake,’ ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ ‘Nutcracker,’ ‘Daphnis and Chloe,’” he said. “The music is beautiful, the emotions palpable, and the musical support for dancing impeccable.”
Supposedly, Prokofiev originally planned to give the ballet a happy ending, allowing the two lovers to survive.
“Dead people can’t dance,” he is quoted as saying.
Former Romeo returns to Dayton
Rich Grund, a professor of theater and dance at Northern Illinois University, danced the role of Romeo in Dayton’s 2005-2006 production and called Dayton home for nine ballet seasons. He returned to town recently to “set” Webre’s ballet along with rehearsal assistant Sharon Neumeister. He called the experience “beautiful.”
“The finest and most integral parts of dances are not captured in a book; we learn through centuries of oral tradition,” Grund said. ” We need our past to move forward.”
Grund, who has danced seven of Webre’s ballets multiple times, first met the famous choreographer during his second year with the Dayton Ballet when the company was producing “Swan Lake.”
“When I saw him walk into the studio with four large coffees, all for him, I knew it would be a long day,” Grund remembers. “He works very hard and often works through his lunch breaks. At the same time, he is very respectful of the dancers and treats everyone with dignity.”
Grund met Webre again the first time he danced the role of Romeo in the year 2000. ” I learned so much about who ‘Romeo and Juliet’ are in this ballet,” he said. “I have always had a deep adoration of Septime’s work, largely because of his passion and attention to detail in his storytelling.”
Grund said Dayton Ballet has long been an ensemble company with a focus on visceral storytelling. “I believe that has served me very well as I teach the next generation of young dancers what dance as a fine art is all about and what it can accomplish,” he says. “Dance should be a window into humanity. Sometimes we really enjoy what we see and sometimes we do not.”
While our new digital age allows us to share with people instantly all over the planet, Grund cautions that our relationships with the people standing right next to us are less engaged. “A ballet like ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is so much more than pretty, it reminds us that love is not just still important, but critical to our existence.”
A challenging set
The costumes for “Romeo and Juliet” were created 10 years ago by designer A. Christina Giannini, and you’ll see them shine once again on the Schuster stage. The original set, however, wasn’t as fortunate.
“It’s at the bottom of the ocean,” explains Ray Zupp, the costume and set designer who was called upon to come up with new scenery for the upcoming production. “Legend has it that years ago in transport the shipping container holding it fell from the boat and into the deep blue sea. The original backdrop survived.”
Dayton Ballet artistic director Karen Russo Burke approached Zupp with a challenge: could he come up with a reproduction of the original set required by the original choreography and, at the same time, add his own creativity to the groundplan?
“We were fortunate to have a recording of the previous production so I could watch the old set to figure out what worked, what didn’t work, and what could be tweaked,” said Zupp, who grew up in Vandalia and said he is a fan of Shakespeare and especially “Romeo and Juliet.”
Zupp said his new sets are rich in earthy tones of old world stone and plaster. He has played with various aspects of light to create a more romantic and magical feel.
“The streets of Verona are large and inviting, a sweeping staircase issues us upwards, almost welcoming the audience into the painted backdrop,” he said. ” We will peek beyond the sheer curtains into the bedroom of Juliet where the lovers spend their first night. Our journey will end in the arched catacombs beneath the lamp-lit church of Verona.”
Zupp said he wanted to focus on the historical look of Verona and a classic Shakespearean look. ” Our original production took place last in the Victoria Theatre and it’s always fun to create new pieces to fill a bigger space like the Schuster Center main stage.”
University of Dayton connects to “Romeo and Juliet”
All first-year students enrolled in a Humanities Commons course at the University of Dayton will be attending a performance of the ballet. For the third year in a row, the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance is partnering with UD’s campus-wide initiative “Rites.Rights.Writes.”
Humanities faculty are integrating the famous tragedy into their curriculum. As part of the project, UD is hosting a series of related programming open to the community.
Professor Richard Chenoweth said the innovative program provides new opportunities for students “to gain insight, understanding and knowledge about what it means to be human and provides a close association with the artists who create and perform these great works.”
UD English professor R. Alan Kimbrough believes the “Romeo and Juliet” ballet will be an ideal introduction to the arts for students.
“Many students are familiar with the story and that familiarity will enable them to respond to the music and dance,” Kimbrough said. “It’s easy for 18- and 19-year-olds to identify with Romeo and Juliet. “
Kimbrough said it’s also easy for audience members to identify with one of the central themes — the individual versus society. “There is a huge conflict between the personal worlds of Romeo and Juliet and the powerful social world of the Montagues and the Capulets.”
In an introductory video provided to students, Dayton Ballet’s Burke advised them to just sit back and let the story unfold.” The music is absolutely wonderful and you couldn’t ask for better characters,” she said. “They have all the kinds of emotions we have all experienced.”
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