Last October the Los Angeles Philharmonic teamed up with choreographer Benjamin Millepied and LA Dance Project to perform Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The innovative program had selections from the ballet performed by Millepied’s company while Gustavo Dudamel lead the orchestra in Prokofiev’s score. This wasn’t a full ballet performance. It was more like a work-in-progress. On Tuesday a more fully realized work will be performed at the Hollywood Bowl.
The program opens with a performance of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with Pablo Ferrández as the soloist. The second act offers up Romeo and Juliet.
As Millepied did at Walt Disney Concert Hall, this ballet will not be confined to the stage at the Hollywood Bowl. His company of dancers will perform in and around the Bowl. There will also be cameras following their actions regardless of where they go.
It should be noted that while the Walt Disney Concert Hall performance offered the complete ballet, the Hollywood Bowl performance is listed as the Romeo and Juliet Suite. It is unknown how much of the ballet’s music will be performed.
The possibilities for exploration by Millepied and his dancers seems far greater at the Bowl than in the confines of Walt Disney Concert Hall.
For tickets go here.
All photos courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.