1977 – Premiere of Rudolf Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet by London Festival Ballet

Rudolf Nureyev’s version of Romeo and Juliet for London Festival Ballet is highly cinematic, sumptuous and colourful, and emphasises the inevitability of the couple’s tragic fate while also making Juliet rather more of a rebel than in many versions. The production, danced to Serge Prokofiev’s music in designs by Ezio Frigerio, remains in the company’s repertoire and the original cast included Patricia Ruanne, Rudolf Nureyev and Nicholas Johnson. Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet has subsequently been performed by the Ballet of La Scala, Milan, and the Paris Opéra Ballet.