Meet the Artist
Prudential Hall
Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 3pm
NJPAC presents
HollywoodStars
International Management, Inc.
JERRY SEINFELD
Entertainment icon Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy
career took off after his first appearance on
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in
1981. Eight years later, he teamed up with
fellow comedian Larry David to create what
was to become the most successful comedy
series in the history of television: Seinfeld. The
show ran on NBC for nine seasons, winning
numerous Emmy, Golden Globe and People’s
Choice Awards, was named the greatest
television show of all time in 2009 by TV
Guide, and in 2012 was identified as the best
sitcom ever in a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll.
Seinfeld has also starred in, written and
produced movies (Comedian, Bee Movie),
directed and produced a Broadway hit (Colin
The State Ballet Theatre
of Russia
Quinn Long Story Short), and even wrote
a best-selling book (Seinlanguage) and a
children’s book (Halloween).
Seinfeld’s latest project is critically-acclaimed
web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,
seen exclusively on Crackle and online at
comediandsincarsgettingcoffee.com,
which
has garnered more than 10 million views. The
New York Times describes it as “impressively
complex and artful,” and Variety calls the
project “a game changer.”
Jerry Seinfeld resides in New York City with
his wife and three children. He remains active
as a standup comedy performer, touring the
country continuously.
S. Prokofiev
Romeo and Juliet
A Ballet in Two Acts
Based on the Tragedy by William Shakespeare
Choregraphy by Michael Lavrovsky
NIKOLAY ANOKHIN, General Director of the Theatre
ANATOLY EMELIANOV, Artistic Director of the Ballet
This performance is made possible, in part, through the generosity of
The Judy and Josh Weston Fund for Artistic Excellence.
NJP2-10
As a courtesy to the performers and fellow audience members, please be
sure to silence all mobile devices. The use of recording equipment and
the taking of photographs are strictly prohibited.
This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council
on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for
the Arts and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Program
Synopsis
Romeo and Juliet
Scene 2
The Capulet palace. Juliet’s nurse is rushing into her room to show Juliet the new dress she
will be wearing at the ball tonight. Juliet wakes up, starts goofing around, wouldn’t listen to the
nurse who, without much success, is trying to calm down her nursling by reminding her that
she needs to try on the dress for tonight’s ball where she will meet her fiancé, Paris.
A Ballet in Two Acts
Music by Sergei Prokofiev
Based on the tragedy by William Shakespeare
Choreography by Michael Lavrovsky
Juliet Capulet............................................... Irina Borysova, Natalia Gubanova, Polina Tokareva
Romeo Montague..................................Aleksey Gerasimov, Evgeny Kuchvar, Volodymyr Tristan
Scene 3
The guests are solemnly arriving to the ball at the Capulet’s palace. Among them is Paris who
came to the ball to meet Juliet. Meantime, Tybalt, strolling around the palace, flirts with Juliet’s
friends. Romeo’s best friend, the merry fellow Mercutio, is trying to persuade Romeo to go to the
Capulet ball. Not to be recognized the young Montagues put on masks and go to the ball.
Mother........................................................................................................ Anastasia Malakhova
Scene 4
The ball begins. After the opening dance of the host and hostess with the invited knights and
their ladies, Count Paris is introduced to Juliet. Upon the introduction Juliet is performing her
enchanting dance delighting the guests. Romeo and his friends appear on the scene. Romeo is
dazzled with the elegance of Juliet’s dance and her beauty. Mercutio and Benvolio are trying
to enliven the demur guests with their playful dances and are making fun of them. Accidently
running into each other in the ball room, Romeo and Juliet fall in love at the first glance. Romeo
cannot hide his delight with Juliet’s beauty. Tybalt, appearing in the ball room while Romeo
and Juliet are dancing, recognizes in Romeo, who took off his mask for the dance with Juliet,
the arch enemy. He is enraged by his appearance. Romeo, who has never met Tybalt before,
asks Juliet about him. Juliet says that her cousin Tybalt was harmless, although hot- tempered.
As senior Capulet appears at the scene Tybalt tells him an enemy found his way into Capulet
home. Senior Capulet doubting his words sends Tybalt away trying to prevent a public display.
Father.......................................................................................... Daniil Vasin, Pavel Yevtushenko
The enamored Romeo and his friends Benvolio and Mercitio are leaving the ball.
Juliet’s Nurse................................................................................................. Ekaterina Davydova
Scene 5
The ball continues. Tybalt is trying to smooth down injured pride by flirting with young ladies.
His behavior has drawn the attention of the guests. In a while the guests are saying their
goodbyes to the host and hostess and leaving the ball. Tybalt is cherishing a plan to revenge
himself upon the uninvited guest. Juliet’s nurse overhears him and rushes to Juliet to tell her
about Tybalt’s vindictive plan and that Romeo is a Montague. Nevertheless, Juliet says she is in
love with him and wishes to meet him again despite the family feud and possible consequences.
Tybalt (Juliet’s Brother).......................................................... Stanislav Faktulin, Evgeny Kuchvar
Mercutio (Romeo’s Friend)................................................... Aleksey Gerasimov, Dmitry Zvonov
Benvolio (Romeo’s Friend).................................................................................... Vladimir Russu
Paris (Juliet’s Groom).............................................................Volodymyr Tristan, Dmitry Zvonov
Juliet’s Friend............................................... Irina Borysova, Natalia Gubanova, Polina Tokareva
Padre................................................................................................................... Aleksey Burakov
NIKOLAY ANOKHIN, General Director of the Theatre
ANATOLY EMELIANOV, Artistic Director of the Ballet
Synopsis
PROLOGUE
Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient
grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal
loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous
overthrows Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.
— W. Shakespeare
ACT I
Scene 1
Early morning. Romeo Montague is wandering around the empty town square dreaming of
love, which, however, does not prevent him from joining into boyish pranks of his friends,
Benvolio and Mercutio, as well as in passages between members of the two feuding clans—
Montague and Capulet. This feud has cost both families more than couple dozens of lives. And
there is yet another run-in, which started out as a harmless artifice of the servants, but then
quickly turned into a fight, which now is brewing over into a real bloodshed. Passions are raised
since Tybalt Capulet, Juliet’s cousin, showed up at the scene.
Scene 6
Starry night. Juliet is standing on the balcony dreaming of Romeo. Romeo appears at the
scene. They confess their love to each other and swear to be true to their feelings forever.
ACT II
Scene 7
There is a joyful tumultuous celebration of the town square. The people of Verona are
dancing. Mercutio and Benvolio are there with their girlfriends. All of a sudden Juliet’s nurse
appears at the square. She has a note from Juliet, and she hands it over to Romeo. Romeo
lights up on reading the note: Juliet has promised to be with him for the rest of her life.
Scene 8
Friar Lorenzo prays in his quiet cell. Romeo comes to beg him to secretly wed him to Juliet. Friar
Lorenzo promises to help them hoping this marriage might finally put an end to the ancient feud
of Montagues and Capulets. Juliet enters the cell. Friar Lorenzo weds them.
The Duke of Verona enters the scene. He orders to sheathe the swords and warns that from
now on the instigators of bloodsheds shall pay for this crime with their lives.
Scene 9
Mercutio and Benvolio keep dancing on the town square with their friends. In the middle of
the celebration Tybalt appears on the square. He sees his enemies, bares his sword and falls
on Mercutio. Romeo rushes towards them hoping to reconcile them. He offers his friendship
to Tybalt but in vain. Tybalt only mocks him. Mercutio and Tybalt engage in a duel. Romeo
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Synopsis
Meet the Composer
Prokofiev’s music is characterized by
percussiveness, lyricism and neoclassical
structure. As one of the principal Russian
figures in classical music during the period of
the Second World War, his work also reflects
the needs of national self-unity and support
for the national struggle. Many of these themes
can be seen in Romeo and Juliet—in particular
the recurrent percussive elements of the score.
tries to break them apart, but Tybalt catches an auspicious moment and from under Romeo’s
arm strikes at Mercutio and delivers the mortal stroke to Romeo’s friend. The crowed is moaning
the death of the town’s favorite. Mercutio’s death infuriates Romeo. He bears his sword,
challenges Tybalt to a duel and kills him. Hearing the noise in the square Juliet rushes outside
and witnesses the death of her cousin. Benvolio takes Romeo away to save him from the wrath of
the Duke.
Tybalt’s relatives stand around his lifeless body during the funeral ceremony and swear eternal
revenge on the Montagues.
Scene 10
Romeo is banned from Verona. He has to part with Juliet.
The first rays of sunshine enter the room. Romeo is saying his goodbye to Juliet and leaves
town. The nurse is trying to console Juliet but in vain. Juliet’s parents appear at the scene with
Paris. Juliet finds out about the upcoming wedding, listens to the confession of her fiancé,
but refuses to embrace her parents’ will. After Paris leaves the parents bring down a wall of
reproaches upon Juliet, but her will remains strong.
Juliet is in despair. She wants to ask Friar Lorenzo for advice.
Scene 11
Touched by the girl’s infinite love for Romeo, Friar Lorenzo gives her a potion: upon drinking
it Juliet will fall into a sleep so deep that everybody will be convinced that she is dead and
carry her body in an open coffin, as the tradition requires, to the ancient family crypt. Lorenzo
plans to inform Romeo about these events, so that the young man who is hiding in Mantua
could come back to Verona and take Juliet back with him to Mantua upon her awakening,
where they could enjoy their days of happiness away from the feuding clans.
As Juliet returns from Lorenzo’s cell she decides to bring his plan into effect immediately,
drinks the potion and falls asleep.
Scene 12
Fall night in Mantua. Romeo wanders around submerged in his gloomy thoughts. He can think
only about Juliet.
Benvolio appears at the scene. He came from Verona to Mantua to give Romeo the sad news
about Juliet’s death. Romeo rushes back to Verona.
Scene 13
Cemetery in Verona. Funeral procession approaches the crypt. The Capulets, the nurse and Paris
are overwhelmed with grief. Upon saying their last goodbyes to Juliet the family heads home.
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Sergei Prokofiev was born in the Ukraine in
1891. After private study, he enrolled at the
St. Petersburg Conservatory, where one of his
teachers was Rimsky Korsakov. By the time
of his graduation, he had already composed a
considerable body of music including his first
ballet, The Buffoon. From 1922, Prokofiev
lived in Paris where he was a friend of Perm’s
most famous cultural figure Sergei Diaghilev.
In 1933, he returned to Russia and in the
following years wrote some of his best works,
including the fairy tale set to music, Peter
and the Wolf (1936), and two of the greatest
ballets of the twentieth century: Romeo and
Juliet (1935) and Cinderella (1945). During an
active professional life, he composed seven
symphonies in all, the last finished just months
before his death.
Romeo rushes into the crypt. He cannot believe that his beloved Juliet is dead: life has lost
all the meaning for him. Romeo takes poison and falls dead at her feet. Juliet wakes up. She
sees Romeo’s lifeless body. His lips are already cold. She does not want to live without him.
With Romeo’s dagger Juliet stabs herself in the heart.
The ballet, Romeo and Juliet, first arose from
a suggestion from the Kirov who requested
Prokofiev to write a new ballet. But his choice
of subject matter proved controversial from
the start and the project was taken over by the
Bolshoi. The problem was the ending of the
story—as Prokofiev later put it: “Living people
can dance, the dying cannot.” It was the
longest ballet Prokofiev had ever written and
the most intensely dramatic. Over a number
of years and by working with several different
companies, the contradictions between the
dramatic and choreographic needs of the
ballet were resolved and the work took its
place as a centerpiece of his oeuvre.
THE STATE BALLET THEATRE OF RUSSIA
Founded by legendary dancer and former
principal dancer of The Bolshoi Theatre
Ballet, Maya Plisetskaya, The State Ballet
Theatre of Russia—now under the direction of
award-winning dancer and Moiseyev Dance
Company
soloist
Nikolay
Anokhin—
presents the most passionate romantic tragedy
every told.
This full-scale production is choreographed
by Bolshoi Theatre Ballet Choreographer
Michael Lavrovsky, and based on William
Shakespeare’s timeless tale of tragic love. The
State Ballet Theatre of Russia presents 55 of
Russia’s brightest ballet stars to bring this
celebration of true love onto our stage and into
our hearts.
EPILOGUE
The crowed is gathering at the cemetery. The Capulets and Montagues are looking down at
the lifeless bodies of their children in horror and rigor. Silently they reach out to each other.
The ancient feud of the two clans is now over, but the peace is bought with the lives of two
innocent loving hearts.
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Meet the Artists
Meet the Artists
the Baltic countries. He has coordinated and
conducted the tours of numerous international
companies, including the Flamenco Theater
of Thomas de Madrid of Madrid, Spain; the
National Ballet of Argentina, “Criolyo,” from
Buenos Aires; the Jazz Step Ensemble from Los
Angeles; Tango “Tiero-A-Tiero” from Buenos
Aires; the Antonio Gades Company of Madrid;
the National Ballet of Korea from Seoul,
Korea; and the Strauss Festival Orchestra of
Vienna, Austria.
and Avos, Daylight Leaves the Earth, Blue
Bird, Gypsy Motives, Esenin and Aysedora,
Carmen, Prodigal Son, Tristan and Isolde,
Kursk Song, The Time, Daphnis et Chloé,
and Vasilisa.
Among Mr. Emelianov’s ballet productions
are Romeo and Juliet and Daylight Leaves
the Earth, set to music by Tchaikovsky;
the original versions of The Nutcracker and
Cinderella; Carmen to music by Bizet and
Schedrin; Cross Winds to music by Chopin;,
Gypsy Motives based on folk songs; Juno and
Avos to the music of the Russian rock opera
by Alexey Rybnikov; Esenin and Aysedora to
pieces by Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Schnittke, and
Prokofiev; Martin Luther to music by Bach
and Handel; Kursk Songs to music of Sviridov
and Stravinsky; Tristan and Isolde to pieces
by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Mahler and
Barber; and Vasilisa to music by Rachmaninoff.
ANATOLY EMELIANOV
Artistic Director of the Ballet
NIKOLAY ANOKHIN
General Director of the Theatre
Nikolay Anokhin was born on January
30, 1957, in the city of Voronezh,
Russia. He graduated in 1974 from
The Voronezh Choreographic School in
the class of Valentine Slyhanov. Later, he
graduated from the State Cultural Art
Institute in the class of director Anatoly
Borzov. He began his professional career
in 1975 as ballet dancer in the dance
and a song company “Russ” of the
Vladimir Philharmonic Society. He was
then a member of the ensemble Donskiye
Kazaki in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
In 1977, Anokhin joined the world-famous the
Moiseyev Dance Company and the following
year became a Principal Dancer in the
company. He was a prize winner in the all
Union ballet masters competition in 1989.
Mr. Anokhin began his career as a director in
1990 as Artistic Director of the theater-show
company Intersonus in Warsaw Poland. In 1992,
he was producer, director, and organizer of the
anniversary concerts of the legendary ballet
dancer Maya Plisetskaya. From 1994 through
2005, Anokhin was one of organizers of the
Ballet Festival in Mikkeli, Finland.
Anatoly Emelianov is a Knight of Second
Diaghilev Order for his “Contributions to
Russian Culture.” Mr. Emelianov graduated
from Perm State Choreography College in
1991. In 2001, he also earned a degree at
the Faculty of Choreography of The Russian
Academy of Theater Art. His career began
at the Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet
Theatre and continued at the Moscow
Children’s Music Theater directed by Natalia
Sats, at the Festival Theater directed by Sergei
Radchenko, and the Moscow City Ballet
by Victor Smirnov-Golovanov. He is presently
a star of the Metropolitan Classical Ballet
directed by A.Vetrov in Arlington, Texas, in
the United States. He is Artistic Director and
choreographer at The Crown of Russian Ballet
Theater, and he became Artistic Director of
The State Ballet Theatre of Russia in 2009.
Mr. Emelianov’s repertory includes leading
roles in Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Don
Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake,
Spartacus, Petit Prince, Scarlet Sails, Juno
Mr. Anokhin has produced many ballet projects
with international stars such as Patrick Dupon,
Vladimir Malakhov, Diana Vishneva, Julia
Kent, Farukh Ruzimatov, Alexey Rapmansky
and many others. As an impresario,
Anokhin has organized and conducted more
than 300 ballet performances and concerts
in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and
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