✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Dance

Review: The Royal Ballet, Romeo and Juliet 2022, ROH ★★★★★

10 Jan 22 – 25 Feb 22, 19:30 Sat mats, consult website Dur.: 2 hours 55 mins inc two intervals

Marianela Nuñez and Federico Bonelli dazzled as the star-cross’d lovers in The Royal Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet's return to Covent Garden

By Teresa Guerreiro on 11/1/2022

Federico Bonelli and Marianela Nuñez in Romeo and Juliet ©ROH 2021 Andrej Uspenski
Federico Bonelli and Marianela Nuñez in Romeo and Juliet ©ROH 2021 Andrej Uspenski
Review: The Royal Ballet, Romeo and Juliet 2022, ROH 4 Review: The Royal Ballet, Romeo and Juliet 2022, ROH Teresa Guerreiro
With Covid cutting a swathe through schedules and performance plans, and any number of dancers forced to isolate at any given time, that The Royal Ballet has been able to put on a fizzing, full cast production of Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet is nothing short of a miracle.


True, the cast for the first night of this second run of the ballet in the current season was not as originally scheduled, Natalia Osipova and Reece Clarke having been forced into isolation; but did we feel short-changed? Not a bit of it – we were treated to a performance where everybody, from named characters to ensemble, danced as if their lives depended on it. It was a glorious occasion.


Royal Ballet principals Federico Bonelli and Marianela Nuñez had danced Romeo and Juliet many times before, but never together. You wouldn’t have known from this performance. Coached by one of the most memorable Juliets of all time, Alessandra Ferri, they gave a passionate and all too credible account of the young lovers’ heart-rending story.


A ballerina couldn’t wish for a more reliable partner, nor a young woman a more besotted lover. A tad unsteady in his ballroom solo, Bonelli came into his own in the balcony pas de deux, his masterful partnering allowing Nuñez to dance with seemingly reckless (but, of course, perfectly controlled) abandon.



Federico Bonelli and Marianela Nuñez in Romeo and Juliet. Photo: © ROH 2021 Andrej Uspenski
Nuñez’s account of the role is detailed and rich in nuance. When she first meets Paris, the nobleman she’s supposed to marry (a sullen Thomas Mock), she is interested, if shy, and she is happy to go through the motions with him at the ball until she meets Romeo. Then her dancing becomes infused with meaning, and from the moment Romeo first touches her, she soars.


From then on Juliet drives the plot in a fevered, impulsive rush of emotion that inexorably pulls the audience into the story.


But MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet is about more than just the two lovers. Nicholas Georgiadis’s sumptuous sets and costumes transport us to Renaissance Verona, and the corps de ballet brought to vibrant life its riotous streets and noble palaces.


Marcelino Sambé made an unscheduled appearance as Mercutio; a typically rousing performance as a hot-headed young man for whom life is not meant to be taken seriously. When he joined the courtly dances at the Capulets' home, there was more than a hint of mockery in his little smile and slight tilt of the head.


Ryoichi Hirano was superb as Tybalt: hate-filled, arrogant, his sword-fights thrillingly fierce.


A revelation was first artist Téo Dubreil’s Benvolio. Tall, elegant, technically proficient and a convincing actor, Dubreil was more than a match for principals Bonelli and Sambé in the three friends' pas de trois – definitely one to watch.


The only downer of the evening was the normally reliable Royal Opera House Orchestra: its tempi erratic, its brass section lamentable, it turned Prokofiev's score into an occasionally painful racket. Whether that was the result of Covid ravages or unfamiliarity with conductor Alondra de la Parra, we couldn’t tell, but it was enough to detract from the star-rating of this review.


Romeo and Juliet is in repertoire at the ROH until Friday 25 February with a variety of casts.
Marianela Nuñez and Federico Bonelli dance the title roles on Thursday 13 January and Tuesday 1 February


Read our interview with two debuting Romeos here.


by Teresa Guerreiro

What Review: The Royal Ballet, Romeo and Juliet 2022, ROH
Where Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD | MAP
Nearest tube Covent Garden (underground)
When 10 Jan 22 – 25 Feb 22, 19:30 Sat mats, consult website Dur.: 2 hours 55 mins inc two intervals
Price £10-£135
Website Click here to book



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 20 - 22 May
Things to do in London this weekend: 20 - 22 May
Queen’s Jubilee 2022: where to celebrate
Queen’s Jubilee 2022: where to celebrate
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London (Photograph: Peter Lewicki)
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2022
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • Parsons

    Parsons is a thoroughly old-fashioned spot, with a maroon-tiled facade, a white tiled interior and antique mirrors on which are written their daily changing selection of fresh whole fish which make up most of the mains. We love it.

    Book Map
  • The Barbary

    The team behind Soho's Palomar bring exquisite modern Jerusalem feasting and ample atmosphere to Covent Garden . Voted as Time Out's top London restaurant in September 2017, The Barbary is inspired by the food and flavours that span the Atlantic Coast.

    Read more...
    Book Map
  • Homeslice, Fitzrovia

    Laid back in its concept and style, the restaurant's premise is simple: delicious 20-inch pizzas, which can also be ordered by individual slice. Homeslice draws a relaxed crowd, and is remarkably good value. Eating at this no cutlery/paper plates pizzeria can be a joyously messy affair.

    Read more...
    Book Map

The Royal Ballet

Kenneth MacMillan

Romeo and Juliet

Royal Opera House

Covent Garden

Federico Bonelli

Marianela Nuñez

Thomas Mock

Marcelino Sambé

Ryoichi Hirano

Téo Dubreil

Alondra de la Parra

You might like

  • Marianela Nuñez as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty © ROH 2011 Photo: Johan Persson

    The Royal Ballet: three new dance streams

  • Vadim Muntagirov as Sigfried in Swan Lake, The Royal Ballet © ROh Photo: Bill Cooper

    The Royal Ballet, Swan Lake 2022 review ★★★★★

  • Shiori Kase and Isaac Hernández in Tamara Rojo's Raymonda, ENB © Johan Persson

    English National Ballet, Raymonda review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×