PROKOFIEV'S March of the Montagues and Capulets - from the ballet Romeo and Juliet - is one of the most abused pieces of music in the world used to advertise products as diverse as aftershave and motorcars.

Last week, however, it was performed in its proper setting as the Birmingham Royal Ballet brought a revised production of Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet to Bradford's Alhambra Theatre.

For Thursday's performance, artistic director David Bintley cast Joseph Cipolla and Monica Zamora as the star-crossed lovers. They are two of the Birmingham Royal's most expressive and lyrical dancers and have built up an exciting partnership over the past couple of years.

As well as being a brilliant dancer, Zamora has great acting ability and she gave the audience a Juliet on the verge of womanhood, coltish and wilful, shy and excitable, brought to maturity by her love for Romeo. Cipolla, an Olivier Award nominee, usually matches her step for step, expression for expression, but on this occasion he seemed lacking in spirit or passion.

The opulence of Prokofiev's music was matched by Paul Andrew's wonderful Renaissance sets, painted in rich blues, reds, greens and golds, and elaborate costumes.

In compelete contrast was Powder, the opening number of three one-act ballets performed by the company on Friday.

With its simple ink drawing backdrop of Grecian columns, and performed to Mozart's beautiful clarinet concerto, Powder is loosely based on the premise that the muses came to inspire the composer while he worked and that every time the piece is played, they come to life again.

Choreographed by Australian Stanton Welch, it is an interesting piece of abstract dance, performed by a small cast of 14, without any real pattern.

Cipolla had obviously recovered from whatever his problem was on Thursday and was back to his superb best.

The other two pieces were both Bintley's. The Protecting Veil (pictured) was commissioned for BRB founder Dame Ninette de Valois' 100th birthday anniversary earlier this year and is a representation of seven moments in the life of the Virgin Mary.

With its dramatic lighting, from above and stage left, simplistic set and costume, performed to John Tavener's music for cello and strings, this was stylised ballet at its best.

'Still Life' at the Penguin Cafe rounded off the programme. Devised from the music created by Simon Jeffes about an imaginary cafe and the strange animals that populate it, Still Life is an amalgam of comic and tragic moments, combined with jazzy ensemble numbers.

The costume designs of Hayden Griffin are amazing and it is a credit to him that the dancers are able to bring such diverse animals as the Great Auk, Utah Longhorn Ram and Southern Cape Zebra to life.

Birmingham Royal Ballet return to The Alhambra Theatre next autumn with a new production of Giselle and a jazz triple bill which will include The Nutcracker Sweeties. LA

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