I will begin my review from the end, that is from what you take with you and stays with you after a performance. When on exiting a grand theater I see elders with a sprint in their step and a sparkle of renewed hope in their eyes, young girls with dreamy eyes and a determined attitude, and everybody in general looking serene and fulfilled, I know I have attended something really special, something magic.
When we are confronted by art, pure art, meaning becomes an emotion that speaks straight to the heart. It might pierce it, it might lift it, it might squeezed it, it might set it on a new path. Art is the best soul food. Art is the first form of magic.”
Those were the emotions I picked up at the end of the performance of the ballet “Romeo and Juliet” with Alessandra Ferri and Herman Cornejo at the Metropolitan Opera House. What happened was nothing short of magic. It is what the ancient Greek dramatists called “catharsis”, which it originally means “purification”, a cleansing of the soul, a collective and shame-free cleansing of our stressed minds and scattered souls.
I am not a professional dancer nor a dance critic, so I can speak only as a spectator who has seen a few ballet performances and loves art in all its forms. When we are confronted by art, pure art, meaning becomes an emotion that speaks straight to the heart. It might pierce it, it might lift it, it might squeezed it, it might set it on a new path. Art is the best soul food. Art is the first form of magic.
This “Romeo and Juliet” was a much awaited performance which saw the return of the wonderful Alessandra Ferri, now 53, in the role that made her famous three decades ago. The expectation, the emotions were palpable in the audience which convened to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. The étoile, and all the cast -it must be said, didn’t let them down, but brought each and everyone along with them in this story of love, intense passions and death.
It was astonishing to see how Alessandra Ferri still performs the playful, fresh 14 years old in her opening scene, but even more impressive was the first scene of the third act when the parents bring Paris to marry Juliet. In that scene the range of emotions of repulsion, desperation, helplessness was much more difficult to express without falling in theatrical stereotypes. However, Ferri pulled it off with such a sincere intensity and depth that transcended any dance canon. Her expressiveness pervaded every movement and gesture, it was like hearing a poem. She told Juliet’s story by bringing out the character’s interior world and connecting it to the story with the flawless execution of the extraordinary prima ballerina that she is.
The chemistry with Herman Cornejo’s rambunctious Romeo was evident in all their scenes from the joyous and passionate balcony scene to the conflicting hide-and-seek of the ballroom, two souls that join and part in perfect synchrony, effortlessly complementing each other’s movements and sentiments.
For 3 hours 3,800 people were transported to the Italian Renaissance by the lavish production of The Metropolitan Opera House: no two costumes were the same. Each and everyone from the protagonists to the pages seemed to be just coming off the most famous paintings of the age.
20 minutes of applauses and at least 10 curtain calls concluded this amazing performance. I, as many others, went back home at peace, happy again with life and satisfied that my fellow humans are still able to create and share such magic.
