West Coast Premiere!
Berkeley Symphony Orchestra
Stefan Asbury, conductor
Love lives! Cal Performances' ongoing relationship with Mark Morris—creator of such landmark works as Mozart Dances and The Hard Nut—deepens and expands as the acclaimed choreographer presents a fresh look at Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers. By the time Prokofiev's glittering ballet Romeo and Juliet premiered at Leningrad's Kirov Theatre in 1940, it was unrecognizable to the composer. Years of bureaucratic tampering had forced him to rewrite the ending, insert solo dances, and thicken the orchestrations. Now after nearly 70 years, comes a historic double accomplishment: the "newly original" Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare, featuring a reconstructed score by Princeton University musicologist Simon Morrison and choreography by Morris. As Prokofiev originally intended, this stunning new work features a radically different ending, all filtered through the prism of Morris' remarkable artistic vision.
Sergey Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, on Motifs of Shakespeare, restored by Simon Morrison, is performed by exclusive agreement with the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, Moscow.
A Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College/Mark Morris Dance Group production in association with Cal Performances, Berkeley; barbicanbite08, London; Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Millennium Park, Chicago; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; and Virginia Arts Festival.
Made possible, in part, by the Centennial Campaign's Creative Venture Fund through a gift of The Bernard Osher Foundation and by the New England Foundation for the Arts.
Additional support provided by Liz and Greg Lutz and Patron Sponsor Bernice Greene.
Sponsored by: 
Learn more about this event in the Annual San Francisco Chronicle Fall Arts Preview.
|
Program Notes
Program notes are available online. [PDF]
Press
New York Times preview of Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare
Please note that accessing this article might require free registration and is time sensitive.
The New Yorker Onward and Upward with the Arts, Romeo, Romeo by Joan Acocella (Abstract)
NPR's Fresh Air from WHYY, 'Romeo & Juliet' Gets An Update — From 1935
The Village Voice, Star-Crossed Lovers Saved!
The New York Observer A Happy Ending, No Balcony—Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo? by Robert Gottlieb
The Wall Street Journal A Morris-Prokofiev Collaboration by Robert Greskovic
|
|
 |
Audio
( QuickTime Player)
Dance of the Three Moors
|
|
 |
Video
( QuickTime Player)
TimesTalks series featuring Mark Morris
Interview with costume designer Martin Pakledinaz
Interviews with the Cast
Mark Morris in Conversation with Robert Cole
Learn more about the inner workings of the long and fruitful relationship between Mark Morris Dance Group and Cal Performances with a converation between Mark Morris and Robert Cole, Director of Cal Performances (recorded August 31, 2007).
- QuickTime Format (Get free player)
- RealVideo Format (Get free player)
|
|
 |
Education/Community Events
Key Notes: Music for the Stage
Fri, Sep 26, 5-6:30 pm
Zellerbach Hall Lobby Mezzanine
Robert Cole and Professor Richard Taruskin discuss Morris' new work based on Prokofiev's original music and the original story concept by Soviet dramatist Sergei Radlov.
|
|
 |
Donor Event
Season Opening Celebration with the Mark Morris Dance Group
Thu, Sep 25, 2008
Zellerbach Hall Mezzanine
(Donors of $600+ by invitation only)
Raise a glass to the start of another amazing Cal Performances season, Robert Cole's final as Director, and the West Coast premiere of Mark Morris's highly anticipated new Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare. There's much to celebrate and we invite you to toast with Director Cole, Mark Morris, and his remarkable dancers.
|
Parking Alerts: Parking may be a problem on campus for the Sat, Sept 27, performance due to a Cal Football game. Please see our Parking Alert section for more information.
Artists links:
Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare site
Mark Morris Dance Group site
Berkeley Symphony Orchestra site
|
|
Purchase Tickets
| Thu, Sept 25, 8 pm | | 
|
| Fri, Sept 26, 8 pm | |
|
| Sat, Sept 27, 8 pm | |
|
| Sun, Sept 28, 3 pm | |
|
New! Subscribe now online and save up to 15%! For more information, see our Order a Subscription page.
Venue: Zellerbach Hall A
Price: $42/$62/$94
Subscription Series:
Choose-Your-Own
Dance A: $150 - $360
 
What do these symbols mean?
|
calperfs.berkeley.edu