"Romeo" Stumbles Without Live Orchestra

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

“Losing live music is a heavy sacrifice,” wrote dance critic Sarah Kaufman in Saturday’s Washington Post review of the Washington Ballet's production of "Romeo and Juliet." The Ballet’s decision to use taped music this season -- including upcoming performances of "The Nutcracker" -- is being challenged by AFM Local 161-710, which represents the Ballet orchestra’s musicians. “It was painfully clear how much it matters in ‘Romeo’," wrote Kaufman, “without a conductor to follow the dance, there were several moments where the timing was off, enough to cause a scene-ending double-take to fall flat because the dancer missed the music. That was the case when Mercutio (Jonathan Jordan) died in his friend Romeo's arms. His collapse should have been devastating, its finality and the implications for Romeo underscored in the musical downbeat and the weighty silence afterward. But dancing to tape, Jordan couldn't establish his own musical phrasing, he couldn't craft the moment with any kind of spontaneity. He had to die on cue. You saw his hesitation, trying to match Mercutio's agony to canned sound, and the poignancy was lost.” Click here to join the nearly 500 area activists who have already participated in the email campaign to urge the Washington Ballet to restore the live orchestra this year. – photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post