Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size When Benjamin Millepied premiered Romeo & Juliet Suite in Paris in 2022, the superstar French dancer and choreographer caused quite a stir.
The 46-year-old – best known for choreographing the movie Black Swan , and his short tenure at the helm of the world’s oldest ballet company, Paris Opera Ballet – admits he might have been naïve about how French audiences would react to his radical take on a classic. “I never thought that we would have this kind of response,” he says. Benjamin Millepied’s Romeo & Juliet Suite will make its Australian premiere in June.
In Romeo & Juliet Suite , on any given evening, Shakespeare’s “star-cross’d lovers” Romeo and Juliet are played by a man and a woman, two men, or two women. “It was actually fascinating for me,” Millepied says. “People were saying, ‘How dare he make Romeo and Juliet with two men?’ ‘Who the f--- does he think he is?’ “You had families who came with their kids, and kids that were thrilled to see two women on stage, and then parents arguing with the kids, or husbands who came with their wives who were like, ‘Why am I sitting through two men doing Romeo and Juliet ?’” Advertisement Since its sold-out Paris debut, the critically lauded Romeo & Juliet Suite has toured Los Angel.
