The production opened the company's artistic season and will run at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre from 13 to 23 October 2016 roku. At the turn of March and April next year Joffrey will bring it to New York’s David H. Koch Theater at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Yet again the ballet wins enthusiastic reviews from American critics. Already in the title of its piece, Chicago Tribune states that 'Joffrey brings back a stronger, starker Romeo & Juliet. And continues: 'Krzysztof Pastor's ... politically oriented Romeo & Juliet [now has] even more resonance – though, thankfully, we've had no open warfare of the sort ... experienced during the Balkan war. Moreover, the Joffrey's performance of the work, which received its U.S. premiere here in spring 2014, has only become deeper, sharper, clearer. ... Pastor's repetitions over different eras, the continuity of the Romeo and Juliet story from one era to another, are devastating, as are his two dream scenes of the results of war, Juliet wandering alone over a vast, dark field of bodies’.
The Chicago Sun-Times notes that 'dance renders words unnecessary in Joffrey’s Romeo and Juliet’ and asserts that Pastor's ballet version of the play 'might just be the most eloquent, rapturous, emotionally searing translation of the story you will ever see'.
Perform.ink calls the production 'a modern masterpiece,’ the author stating moreover that 'Joffrey Ballet opened its 21st season in Chicago with what might be the single best production I've seen by the company in the 15 years I've lived in Chicago, Krzysztof Pastor's Romeo and Juliet. ... [T]his reimagined tale of two star-crossed lovers, feels fresh and accessible bridging the gap between a story that is four centuries old and the 21st century social, political and religious struggles we see play out daily in our modern world'. (pch)
