This is the best of Viktor Smirnov-Golovanov's productions of the classics that I have seen. It's well thought out and magnificent to look at. The costumes - as in all this company's work - are sumptuous, and the choreographer assembles the minor characters in tableaux, as though in a painting, or swirls them around in a blaze of colour in the street scenes.

As Juliet, Tatyana Krasnova dances with a relaxed lyricism that takes her easily through the many extended lifts and jumps of Golovanov's complex choreography, sewing them into long, floating sequences of beautiful movement. She acts well, too, developing from the coltish child of the bedroom scene to the determined newly-wed who will go to any lengths to stay with her husband. What Krasnova can not do - through no fault of her own - is hide the fact that in reality she is a mature and glamorous woman. This, coupled with her height, means that she doesn't quite come over as the innocent young girl of the story. However, in the dimly-lit garden duet, and in the finale in the tomb, such considerations don't come into play, and, all in all, this is a very fine performance.

Mikhail Mikhaylov gives a competent but slightly bland performance as Romeo, leaving Talgat Kazhabayev as Tybalt to steal the show. Here is a man with real star quality; tall and powerfully built with a superb technique - Golovanov has given this Tybalt much more dancing than usual - and a most engaging personality. Kazhabayev makes us feel that Tybalt is essentially a decent man who has simply been goaded too far by Mercutio (Gennadiy Batalov) and the rest of the Montague boys. Paris, too, (Sergiy Zolotaryov) is presented as a likeable and worthy suitor and, given this dancer's virtuosity, has wisely been given several opportunities to show it off.

At the start, Romeo has four friends, which makes it rather hard to work out who is who, as they all have much the same to do, but - apart from this - the production runs inexorably towards its tragic end, which is movingly played by the two leads.