Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story ever told.

When young Romeo Montague tricks his way into the lavish masked ball of the Capulet family it is love at first dance. But the Capulets are old enemies of the Montagues and the immediate passion between Romeo and the beautiful Juliet Capulet is quickly forbidden.

Boldly forgoing the approval of their families, the young lovers play by their own rules and soon their dangerous seduction is filled with secrets, as the star-crossed pair hatch a perilous plot. Can Romeo and Juliet play tricks with life and death – or will death play a final trick on them?

With a sweeping score by Sergei Prokofiev and soaring choreography from a legendary master of modern ballet, Kenneth MacMillan, Romeo and Juliet continues to be the all-time classic love story.

World premiere: 9 February 1965, The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
First performance by Birmingham Royal Ballet: 1 June 1992, Birmingham Hippodrome

Kenneth MacMillan passed away in October 1992, backstage, in the middle of a performance of Mayerling on the same night that Birmingham Royal Ballet was elsewhere performing his production of Romeo and Juliet.