Oh Romeo

Russian Ballet!!!!!
Last night, we went to the Mikhailovsky Theater to see Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, which was perfect because I love the play and couldn't wait to go to the ballet! It was WONDERFUL. We were in the cheap seats ($13, the i-love-russia price), so think fourth-tier balcony on extreme stage right. I went with Meryem and Heather, and it turned out we were in a three-chaired box, which was cute. We even had our own little door! We were right above the pit orchestra, which was really neat (and the music was dark and eerily beautiful!) If it seems too good to be true, that's because it was a little bit.

Because we were above the ceiling of the stage, we could not see the deepest part of the stage. No problem most of the time. However - and I still can't believe this is true - we couldn't see the death scene. Juliette was on her slab in the deepest part of the stage, and we just couldn't see her (the ceiling was blocking her). Heather could see Romeo's thighs, I could see his ankles, and poor Meryem couldn't see anything at all! We waited and enjoyed the music until, first, Romeo dropped to the floor and we could see him again. Shortly after she danced around, we waited knowingly and Juliette also fell next to him. It was fun though, and knowing the story (pretty well, mom :]) made everything much more illuminating!
Fun fact - Prokofiev originally had a happy ending, but there was an uproar and the premiere was postponed so he finally rewrote it, keeping Shakespeare's original end.

A side note:
This maybe should have been obvious, but, even though the ballet was beautiful, I realized so clearly that what I love most about Romeo and Juliet is the dialogue!! I missed it so, so much and it just wasn't the same! After Tybalt stabbed Mercutio, Mercutio danced/writhed around nicely... but it just wasn't the same without "A plague on both your houses! They have made worms' meat of me." Which, of course, I said to myself.
Romeo looked quite pained and gallantly scooped up his blade and ran toward Tybalt, but I definitely found the motion lacking without Romeo yelling "Mercutio's soul is but a little way above our heads... Either thou, or I, or both must go with him!" So I silently thought it for him! Anyway, bravo Prokofiev! 

More to come!
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