16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 25 October 2009
Ticket information: 2739 0114
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet contains some of the most evocative, beautiful lines ever written in the English language. For Prokofiev to even attempt to translate this in to the language of music took a great deal of audacity, but the score manages to convey a theatrical sweep and expressive power so admired that the orchestral suites from the ballet are frequently performed in concert programs.
The COB’s production was collaboratively developed with the National Dance Company of Mexico, and the choreography wonderfully reflects a Latin/Mediterranean synthesis.
The ravishing Serbian ballerina, Anja Ahein, in the role of Juliet, showed great poise and charm, although with a oddly inappropriate cheerfulness in parts of Acts I and II (the Tashkenti Olga Dirda also dances the role some nights). Egypt’s own Ahmed Yehia as Romeo was excellent as always (Zorab Mikeladze on some nights). The other standout was Ahmed Nabil (Mercutio), who had a fantastic stage presence; he is a superb actor as well as a very fine dancer (Mamdoh Hassan on some nights). The dreadfully miscast Amir Farouk (Tybalt), on the other hand, went through the steps with little passion, let alone the bloodthirstiness called for in the role of Juliet’s hot-headed cousin (Ahmed Saleh on some nights). Man up, Amir! With a few noticeable exceptions, the rest of the company struggled – they seem undertrained and under-rehearsed. The COB Orchestra led by Nayer Nagui had some difficulties with the score, particularly the brass and woodwind sections, but their less than stellar performance did little to detract from the dancing.
For those of you who have not yet seen a performance at the Cairo Opera House. Go!
It is comfortable, clean, easily accessible, and a lovely place to see music and dance. See the excellent venue description in the blog before you go.
Note that tickets for performances can be purchased at the box office at the Opera House right before the performance – although the COB and gala productions do “sell out” (including a large fraction of the tickets given away to VIPs that are maddeningly not used), so if you can, it’s a good idea to buy tickets early for these performances. When at the box office, don’t take no for an answer! Be polite and persistent and keep waiting and you’ll almost always get a seat. While the Opera House website has a “online tickets” link, it doesn’t work, and apparently never has worked!
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