Romeo and Juliet
Experience this reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s ubiquitous tale of star-crossed lovers, set to the renowned score of Sergei Prokofiev. Reimagined by Philadelphia Ballet’s Resident Choreographer Juliano Nunes, Romeo and Juliet follows the story of two young lovers from feuding families whose intense passion leads to their untimely tragic end.
Art-Reach ACCESS tickets will be available in two phases: the first release on July 15, 2025, and the second release will be on Thursday, March 19, 2026 (six weeks before the opening night). To participate in the ACCESS Program, patrons must pick up their tickets at the Academy of Music box office and present a valid ACCESS card. ACCESS tickets can be purchased online using a promo code, by calling the Box Office at 215.893.1999, or in person at the Box Office window.
Philadelphia Ballet gratefully acknowledges the sponsors for Romeo and Juliet:
PRESENTING SPONSOR
GRAND GUARANTOR
Carolyn Horn Seidle
UNDERWRITERS
Maxine and Jay L. Goldberg
SPONSOR
Allen R. and Judy Brick Freedman
Karin and Stanley Schwalb
PARTNER
SUPPORTER
Judith Hoffman
The student matinee performance of Romeo and Juliet on May 1, is generously supported by The NANA Fund.
Performances By Date
*Student Matinee for School Groups
Juliano Nunes is Resident Choreographer with Philadelphia Ballet. He was trained at the Brazilian Dance Conservatory in Rio de Janeiro, furthering his studies at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts in Germany with a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. He spent his dancing career with Royal Ballet of Flanders, Leipzig Opera Ballet, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and Stuttgart Gauthier Dance, working with such choreographers as William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, Hans van Manen, Jirí Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Yuri Grigorovich, Akram Kahn, among others.
Nunes has gone on to receive critical acclaim for his own choreography and has created pieces for the Royal Ballet in London, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theatre 2, Rome Opera House, Acosta Danza, Philadelphia Ballet, Mariinsky Theatre, Ballet Zürich Opera House, Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Staatstheater Hannover, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet West, Origen Festival Cultural, Teatro San Carlo, and Netflix’s “Tiny Pretty Things.” Nunes has created visual works with artists such as Penelope Cruz, Residente, and FKA twigs.
Customarily stingy with praise, Igor Stravinsky pronounced his compatriot, Sergei Prokofiev, the greatest Russian composer of his day – after himself. Like Stravinsky, Prokofiev decided at a young age that he would devote his life to music. At age 11, he enrolled at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied composition, piano, organ, and conducting. In 1913 he traveled to Paris and London, where he met Sergei Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes, under whose guidance the young composer wrote his first ballet score, Chout (The Buffoon). Prokofiev decided again to flee his war-torn homeland, but in 1936 made the fateful decision to move his family permanently to Moscow. A few short years later, his music, along with that of Dmitri Shostakovich and Aram Khachaturian, was labelled “degenerate” by the Soviet government. Relentlessly productive until the end of his life, Prokofiev composed seven symphonies, many concertos and sonatas, a great deal of film and incidental music, nine ballets (including Prodigal Son, Romeo and Juliet, and Cinderella) and fourteen operas.
Youssef Hotait is a costume and scenic designer bridging fashion and performing arts. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, and raised in Hamburg, Germany, he brings multicultural perspective to his craft.
Starting in fashion, he designed for international artists including Usher, Stevie Wonder, Matthias Schweighöfer, and Soprano. Transitioning to theater, his work includes collaborations with American Ballet Theatre New York, Philadelphia Ballet, and Opera de Nice France among others.
Notable is his creative partnership with choreographer Juliano Nunes, where they collaborate on storytelling from conception, with Nunes creating choreography while Hotait designs scenery and costumes.
Brad Fields is delighted to return to Philadelphia Ballet, where he previously designed the lighting for Etudes, Ghost Stories, Grace Action, Romeo & Juliet, and TriggerTouchFade. Mr. Fields travels throughout the world lighting dance. In 1995 he became American Ballet Theatre’s Lighting Director where he has designed the lighting for numerous ballets including Juliano Nunes’ Have We Met?!, Alexei Ratmansky’s The Bright Stream, The Firebird, The Golden Cockerel, Neo, On the Dnieper, Seven Sonatas, Whipped Cream, Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella and Monotones I & II, Christopher Wheeldon’s Thirteen Diversions, Benjamin Millepied’s I feel the Earth Move, Daphnis and Chloe, and Everything Doesn’t Happen at Once, Jorma Elo’s C. to C. and GLOW-STOP. Twyla Tharp’s Rabbit and Rogue.
Mr Fields is a frequent collaborator of Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato. At the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, he designed the lighting for La Bayadére, The Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. At Staatsballett Berlin: Castrati, Erde, and Static Time. For Compañía Nacional de Danza: Arcangelo, Cobalto, Dreams of Ether, Herrumbre, Multiplicity: Form of Silence and Emptiness, Remanso, and Without Words.
He has also designed for many other companies including Australian Ballet, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, La Scala Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Netherlands Dance Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Royal Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet and San Francisco Ballet.