Metropolitan Opera 11 July 2024 - Romeo and Juliet - ABT | GoComGo.com

Romeo and Juliet - ABT

Metropolitan Opera, New York, USA
All photos (8)
Thursday 11 July 2024
7:30 PM

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Important Info
Type: Ballet
City: New York, USA
Starts at: 19:30

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Overview

Against the sumptuous setting of Renaissance Italy, Kenneth MacMillan draws emotional depth from the immortal romance of Romeo and Juliet.

Although Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague come from two warring families, when they meet at the Capulets’ ball, they fall in instantaneous love, transcending the hatred between their kin. The pair marries in secret to avoid further conflict between the families. Even so, a battle between Romeo and Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, ensues and sets off a series of events that turns this love story into a tragedy. Prokofiev’s unforgettable music underscores the beauty and passion of this beloved ballet and its star-crossed lovers.

History
Premiere of this production: 30 November 1937, Mahen Theatre, Brno

Romeo and Juliet is a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. Prokofiev reused music from the ballet in three suites for orchestra and a solo piano work.

Synopsis

Act I

Scene 1 ‑ The Market place

The scene is Verona.  Romeo, son of Montague, tries unsuccessfully to declare his love for Rosaline and is consoled by his friends Mercutio and Benvolio.  As day breaks the townspeople meet in the market place, a quarrel develops between Tybalt, a nephew of Capulet, and Romeo and his friends.  The Capulets and Montagues are sworn enemies and a fight soon begins.  The Lords Montague and Capulet join in the fray, which is stopped by the appearance of the Prince of Verona who commands the families to end their feud.

Scene 2 ‑ Juliet’s ante‑room in the Capulets’ house 

Juliet, playing with her nurse, is interrupted by her parents Lord and Lady Capulet.  They present her to Paris, a wealthy young nobleman who has asked for her hand in marriage.

Scene 3 ‑ Outside the Capulet’s house 

Guests arrive for a ball at the Capulets’ house.  Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio, disguised in masks, decide to go in pursuit of Rosaline.

Scene 4 ‑ The ballroom

Romeo and his friends arrive at the height of the festivities.  The guests watch Juliet dance.  Mercutio, seeing Romeo is entranced by her, dances to distract attention from him.  Tybalt recognizes Romeo and orders him to leave, but Capulet intervenes and welcomes him as a guest in his house.

Scene 5 ‑ Outside the Capulets’ house

As the guests leave the ball Capulet restrains Tybalt from pursuing Romeo.

Scene 6 ‑ Juliet’s balcony

Unable to sleep, Juliet comes out on to her balcony and is thinking of Romeo, when suddenly he appears in the garden.  They confess their love for each other.

Act II

Scene 1 ‑ The Market place

Romeo can think only of Juliet, and as a wedding procession passes, he dreams of the day when he will marry her.  In the meantime Juliet’s nurse pushes her way through the crowds in search of Romeo to give him a letter from Juliet.  He reads that Juliet has consented to be his wife.

Scene 2 ‑ The chapel

The lovers are secretly married by Friar Laurence who hopes that their union will end the strife between the Montagues and the Capulets.

Scene 3 ‑ The market place

Interrupting the revelry, Tybalt fights with Mercutio and kills him.  Romeo avenges the death of his friend and is exiled.

Act III

Scene 1 ‑ The bedroom

At dawn next morning the household is stirring and Romeo must go.  He embraces Juliet and leaves as her parents enter with Paris. Juliet refuses to marry Paris, and hurt by her rebuff, he leaves.  Juliet’s parents are angry and threaten to disown her.  Juliet rushes to see Friar Laurence.

Scene 2 ‑ The chapel

She falls at the Friar’s feet and begs for his help.  He gives her a phial of sleeping potion which will make her fall into a death‑like sleep.  Her parents, believing her dead, will bury her in the family tomb.  Meanwhile Romeo, warned by Friar Laurence, will return under cover of darkness and take her away from Verona.

Scene 3 ‑ The bedroom

That evening Juliet agrees to marry Paris, but next morning, where her parents arrive with him they find her apparently lifeless on the bed.

Scene 4 ‑ The Capulet family crypt

Romeo, failing to receive the Friar’s message, returns to Verona stunned by grief at the news of Juliet’s death.  Disguised as a monk he enters the crypt, and finding Paris by Juliet’s body, kills him.  Believing Juliet to be dead, Romeo drinks a phial of poison.  Juliet awakes and, finding Romeo dead, stabs herself.

Venue Info

Metropolitan Opera - New York
Location   30 Lincoln Center

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The Metropolitan Opera is the largest classical music theatre in North America. It presents about 27 different operas each year from late September through May. As of 2018, the company's current music director is Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1883 as an alternative to New York's old established Academy of Music opera house. The subscribers to the Academy's limited number of private boxes represented the highest stratum in New York society. By 1880, these "old money" families were loath to admit New York's newly wealthy industrialists into their long-established social circle. Frustrated with being excluded, the Metropolitan Opera's founding subscribers determined to build a new opera house that would outshine the old Academy in every way. A group of 22 men assembled at Delmonico's restaurant on April 28, 1880. They elected officers and established subscriptions for ownership in the new company. The new theater, built at 39th and Broadway, would include three tiers of private boxes in which the scions of New York's powerful new industrial families could display their wealth and establish their social prominence. The first Met subscribers included members of the Morgan, Roosevelt, and Vanderbilt families, all of whom had been excluded from the Academy. The new Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22, 1883, and was an immediate success, both socially and artistically. The Academy of Music's opera season folded just three years after the Met opened.

The operas are presented in a rotating repertory schedule, with up to seven performances of four different works staged each week. Performances are given in the evening Monday through Saturday with a matinée on Saturday. Several operas are presented in new productions each season. Sometimes these are borrowed from or shared with other opera companies. The rest of the year's operas are given in revivals of productions from previous seasons. The 2015–16 season comprised 227 performances of 25 operas.

The operas in the Met's repertoire consist of a wide range of works, from 18th-century Baroque and 19th-century Bel canto to the Minimalism of the late 20th century. These operas are presented in staged productions that range in style from those with elaborate traditional decors to others that feature modern conceptual designs.

The Met's performing company consists of a large symphony-sized orchestra, a chorus, a children's choir, and many supporting and leading solo singers. The company also employs numerous free-lance dancers, actors, musicians, and other performers throughout the season. The Met's roster of singers includes both international and American artists, some of whose careers have been developed through the Met's young artists programs. While many singers appear periodically as guests with the company, others, such as Renée Fleming and Plácido Domingo, long maintained a close association with the Met, appearing many times each season until they retired.

Important Info
Type: Ballet
City: New York, USA
Starts at: 19:30
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