The choreographic solution of the ballet Romeo and Juliet combines the scale of the Renaissance fresco and the subtlest psychologism of 20th-century art. Therefore, the performance of N. Kasatkina and V. Vasilev can most likely be attributed to the neoclassical direction than to purely classical performances. The choreographers took the musical version of Sergei Prokofiev, restored by conductor G. Rozhdestvensky, as a musical basis. This version differs from the famous performance of the Bolshoi Theater in the choreography of Lavrovsky with the great Galina Ulanova.
“In our production, we tried to get as close as possible to the Shakespearean source, not to miss anything when translating the work of the great English playwright into the language of choreography. We were equally attracted by the romantic images of the main characters of the ballet, and the genre figures of the servants, and the grotesque characters of the folk carnival, in a word, close-up Verona. In our performance, Romeo and Juliet were initially not at all exceptional personalities. Exceptional make them feelings, strength of mind, passions. Shakespeare's play seems very modern to us. All her characters are worthy of love, but the irresistible power of hardened traditions leads to tragedy. People must find the strength to break out of the cruel trap of false beliefs ”(N. Kasatkina, V. Vasilev).
