'Romeo and Juliet': Collaboration of ballet and orchestra launched for May production

Don Steffy, Kevin Lin, Yoshiko Kamikusa, and James Johnson flank ballet and orchestra maestri Victoria Lyras and Jack Everly at event celebrating forthcoming "Romeo and Juliet" production.

 Seven seasons into Indianapolis Ballet's existence and 90-plus seasons into Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's continuous presence here, the two performing forces will work together to produce "Romeo and Juliet," a ballet based on Shakespeare's romantic tragedy using Sergei Prokofiev's score, on the first weekend of the city's storied month of May.

At a celebration of the collaboration Tuesday at the home of Jackie Nytes, a board member of both organizations, the venture was hailed by IB's founding artistic director Victoria Lyras as something that mostly makes her "so happy for my dancers — there's nothing like working with an orchestra....You feel this music more: I love it more than the choreography."

Out of discussions between the two organizations begun nearly a year ago, the scheduling was put into place with another crucial aspect  —the venue — that will stir the nostalgia of performing-arts old-timers: the return of the ISO to its old home of Clowes Memorial Hall at Butler University where it was in residence from the building's 1963 opening to 1984, when the orchestra moved downtown to the refurbished Circle Theatre (now carrying "Hilbert" in honor of a major donor as part of its name).

ISO principal pops conductor Jack Everly will conduct the performances. His notable aptness for leading ballet performances is centered in his tenure as music director of American Ballet Theatre, beginning in the Mikhail Baryshnikov era (1980-1989). "He's good. We keep him," is how Everly on Tuesday recalled Baryshnikov's concise hiring of him to a post he held for 15 years. 

Lyras was also thrilled to announce the hiring of Septime Webre as the local production's choreographer. His version premiered in 1994, and featured Lyras as one of the original Juliets. In the new production, IB principal dancer Yoshiko Kamikusa will dance that role, and told the party she is thrilled to have her debut as Juliet here. Her experience in a previous production had her in the rather more limited role of Mercutio's girlfriend; Mercutio is Romeo's buddy and leads off the Shakespeare play's parade of premature deaths. 

Last June, the ISO presented in its Classical Series music from the Prokofiev score shifted into positions that suited a partial staging of the original drama with local actors. Jun Märkl, who was recently appointed music director of the ISO, designed the dramatic-musical presentation in a two-weekend Shakespeare Festival that also brought Mendelssohn's music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to the Hilbert Circle Theatre stage.

Tickets to the joint production of "Romeo and Juliet" can be purchased at IB's web site.