Last night like a midsummer dream, so sultry all of the sudden and just as suddenly a breeze over a quiet crowd taking in the art show tents in Rittenhouse, also smart languishing in the cafe- the scene was otherwise chilled out. I was off to the Academy of Music for PABal’s performance of John Cranko’s Romeo & Juliet. In the pit Beatric Jona Affron appointing all dimensions of the great Prokofiev score projecting it so well (not easy in the Academy), The woodwinds were no less than triumphant and the brass was so horny (even with a wayward one or two.
There are a lot of slow deaths in R & J-Tybalt, Paris, and of course the love drunk couple, but Jonathan Stiles has the most convincing onstage death scene as Mercutio, the blood just drained from his face and his eyes.
Stab wounds aside, yes everything is beautiful at the ballet and for a moment going home there was nothing in the air but the echo of those Shakespearean oboes.
Alternatetakes2 