by Leigh Witchel
American Ballet Theatre’s season at the Metropolitan Opera House, its first under the direction of Susan Jaffe, was programmed with one huge risk, hedged by proven warhorses. If ABT has little option economically but to play it safe with full-length story ballets at the Met, at least Kenneth MacMillan’s “Romeo and Juliet” is solid, detailed and a good vehicle for the leads.
Herman Cornejo has been playing Romeo more than 15 years, and fittingly, he delivered a solid, reliable performance. Perhaps this is a reflection of the times, but the opening street scene felt more like a tinder box. Even Betsy McBride as Rosaline, accompanied by a man who seemed more bodyguard than kinsman, was less flirting with Romeo than appraising him as a threat. Benvolio (Sung Woo Han) gave Tybalt (Joo Won Ahn) a chin flick, then one of the harlots spat at Ahn, but turned the action into blowing him a kiss.
Carlos Lopez hadn’t yet figured out how to make Escalus more than a collection of gestures, but maybe that is all he is supposed to be. Still, if you were shown a pile of dead bodies, wouldn’t you do more then wave your hand angrily and make everyone to promise not to do it again?
Like Catherine Hurlin, Cassandra Trenary is an unmannered but believable actress. She didn’t “play the ending,” when she first raced out with lovely, agile run. Her Juliet was a girl with her whole life ahead of her. She entered for the ball and looked around in wonder as if she’d never seen the room decorated before. Before the balcony duet, she signaled to Cornejo to wait, that she’d be right down, and raced down the stairs until she took a leap for the last few steps. She knew her story and how she wanted it to look.
She and Cornejo worked well together. In the interlude when Juliet and Romeo stole a moment alone, after Trenary pushed the nurse offstage, Cornejo tore off his mask fatuously, as if he were Zorro. But he was in love, and made it clear his fighting days were now over.
The balcony pas de deux went smoothly; he sped through his enchaînements. In the Queen Mab trio with Mercutio and Benvolio, Cornejo saved some turns, but you would have had to been looking for it to notice. He took the opening of Act 2 at the same fast pace, riding conductor Charles Barker’s tempos like waves. He made one complex combination after another, then let fly a series of double saut de basques.
Both Trenary and Cornejo could do everything they’re asked to, but they’re at different points in their careers. She looked as if she could do even more; there were hidden reserves. That’s not where Cornejo is now.
That is very much where Jake Roxander is. He got a shot at Mercutio in Washington DC last February, and two more during the Met season. He had facility and energy to spare, to the point where his lines almost got away from him as he tore through turns or sprung round in a jump.
He led the Mandolin Dance, opening by rocketing through double inside air turns, then a series of jumps to pirouettes that slowly finished on balance. Roxander won the audience over quickly with his swagger and extravagance.
Like her Berthe in “Giselle,” Nancy Raffa’s Nurse was warm and straightforward, but also detailed. She discreetly hid Juliet’s doll when Paris was introduced, or gently straightened her charge’s outfit when they went to see Friar Laurence. Despite being pranked during the letter scene, she remained thrilled to achieve her objective as a messenger of happiness.
Perhaps the most unadorned performance was Ahn’s, which had one glowering note. When he tried to goad Romeo into fighting Tybalt, Mercutio became more and more frustrated and confused, and we were at the duel. Roxander fought with youthful zest, jumping side to side like a bantamweight. It seems to be up to each cast to decide among the possible blockings for Mercutio’s stabbing. This cast picked the weakest choice, a complete accident where Mercutio backed into the sword. Roxander died big, almost too big: staggering and flailing, but in the scale of the performance it was effective.
Cornejo cried throughout Roxander’s death scene, but it sometimes felt less like genuine emotion and more like ramping himself up for his duel with Tybalt. He fought sloppily as if through tears, but towards the end he changed to a two handed grip on his sword and batted Tybalt’s sword out of his hands before goring him. Lady Capulet appeared just in time to watch Tybalt die; Ahn reached for Luciana Paris as he collapsed. Paris did not need to ramp up anything, she vibrated with grief during her lament.
After the intermission, the bedroom pas de deux went perhaps too smoothly. Trenary was pitching herself into Cornejo but he didn’t have the bulk to whip her around. Everything got done, but it stayed in the safety zone. At the same time, Trenary found her way to a believable, relatable Juliet that still filled an opera house. After Cornejo left through the window, a moment flashed across her face when she saw how big this situation had gotten, too big for her to comprehend.
The company’s productions of “Romeo and Juliet” usually are at their most nuanced in the Act 3 family scenes. This fell right into line. When Lady Capulet came in you could see the venom in her eyes; her grief was anger. Lord Capulet, John Gardner, entered weighed down, mechanically. He had already been broken.
Trenary chose a strong, stubborn persona for her Juliet. Her first response to the nurse was less hurt at betrayal and more of the floor sliding out from under her. She less showed anger than an adolescent “I can’t even . . .” Her first reaction to her suitor Paris was “DON’T TOUCH ME” and then, surrounded by her family, a very recognizable moment when she pushed all the hands away and stood there for the longest time. Just don’t touch me. It was a crystallizing detail.
Then she bourréed to the opposite side of the room. She pleaded with Lady Capulet, whose response was to straighten her mourning veil. Her father brought her heavily around the room before she staggered forward on pointe to dance with her betrothed.
He’s played villains, but Andrii Ishchuk may have a future as a nice guy. He was sympathetic as a Paris who went from gesturing to Lord Capulet to tend to his daughter, to trying to break her, to realizing she had rejected him. He let her go, resigned, and kissed the hem of her skirt in tears when later she relented.
Trenary was a Juliet who acted first, then thought. She looked at the potion, then downed it with barely a hesitation. Later, when her family returned to find her unconscious, instead of only the nurse trying to rouse Juliet, her father did, then clutched his heart when he realized he had lost his daughter.
Like the street scene, the tomb scene felt bloody in a way that was both disquieting and made sense. Cornejo killed Paris and left him there, adding to the body count because he was in the way.
The tomb duet was the most emotional and convincing of the three main pas de deux. Trenary looked literally like dead weight as she and Cornejo deftly camouflaged any assistance she gave him. When Trenary woke up, she acted dizzy and groggy but again, decisive. It didn’t dawn slowly on her what happened; the first thing she saw was Paris. It wasn’t long before she saw Romeo. She walked to the knife and didn’t think about what she was going to do next. She stabbed herself, and made it across the bed to touch Cornejo before dying in cambré back.
If the Met season is any indication, Jaffe eschewed radical change in her first year. She also would barely have had time. Still, ABT looks like ABT. What the company does well, it still does well, and we’re not seeing signs of mass turnover. Jaffe’s going to have the opportunity to put her mark on the company, but for now, she’s tending the garden, not plowing it under.
copyright © 2023 by Leigh Witchel
“Romeo and Juliet” – American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House, New York, NY
July 15, 2023
Cover: Cassandra Trenary in “Romeo and Juliet.” Photo © Rosalie O’Connor.
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