At the Bolshoi Theater, an interesting time warp is taking place: one that takes the company back to the year 1956, when, in the thaw after Stalin's death, the U.S.S.R.'s premiere musical theater had been allowed to go to London for the first time. The tour was a sensation and Galina Ulanova the hit of the season in "Romeo and Juliet." Sergei Prokofiev's symphonic score and Leonid Lavrovsky's original choreography created a double legend: Soviet ballet and the Bolshoi Theater.


To be in the front rows of the 1956 production was to see brightly colored costumes, a spirited throng of dancers and wide streets created at enormous expense by the Soviet state in order to duplicate on-stage the palaces and squares of renaissance Verona and impress all the world.


Now, Bolshoi audiences can witness it all again. The ballet's new artistic director, Vyacheslav Gordeyev has supervised the most painstaking revival of a major ballet in history, one that premiered Dec. 25. Almost nothing has been changed from the original Lavrovsky version at the Bolshoi in 1946, when it premiered in Moscow. Gordeyev even brought in members of the first cast to teach each member of the corps-de-ballet their roles as originally conceived. And with them, Gordeyev has succeeded in capturing not just the form of the original, but its spirit.


Lavrovsky's version of "Romeo and Juliet" is more dramatic theater than pure ballet. Lavrovsky deliberately reduced the dancing to incorporate mime and hew more closely to Shakespeare's text.


When Romeo first sees Juliet we can almost hear Shakespeare's words, "Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!/ For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."


The heroes of the night are the dancers of the corps-de-ballet, who do a brilliant job changing their habitual wide strides and high leaps for the gay, quick footwork of a past epoch. Each plays out his or her role with ingenuous naivet?. For the first time in years no cynical smirks are to be seen in the back line.


Their new-found earnestness of purpose is especially evident during the funeral procession for Juliet's cousin, Tybalt. The music surpasses tragic, risking pompous melodrama in its thundering grief. Gestures are big, the dancers synchronously cast their limbs up and down in despair. Lady Capulet rips open the bodice of her dress and shakes futile fists at the stars.


As fine as the corps-de-ballet is, the central figure in this drama-ballet is Juliet. Much depends on her charm and radiance. Unfortunately, neither Nadya Gracheva nor Galina Stepanenko are able to create a convincing image of Juliet. They are both technicians with specialty tricks: in Gracheva's case, high show-jumping leaps and in Stepanenko's, endless spinning fouett?s.


Both Romeos, Andrei Uvarov and Sergei Filin, turn in attractive performances. But Filin's athleticism and Uvarov's grace lose much of their impact without Juliet's love. Both would probably do much better themselves if paired with more responsive Juliets. Uvarov is a particularly frigid lover with Gracheva, while Filin seems to lack the chemistry that he enjoys with his regular partner on and off stage, Ina Petrova, now on maternity leave.


Especially striking in the supporting roles is Andrei Sitnikov as Juliet's father. His every gesture speaks of the power and passion of a Veronese patrician, while his moods of defiance, anger and grief bring the stage alive. Ilza Liepa is an imposing and aristocratic Lady Capulet, though in her grief she is less convincing than the passionately expressive second-cast Maria Volodina.


Principal dancer Mark Peretokin has returned from injury to take the impassioned fatuity and narcissism of Tybalt to a very convincing extreme, giving perhaps the best dramatic performance of his career.


Such performances combined with Gordeyev's meticulous attention to the details of half a century ago make this "Romeo and Juliet" a good show, one worth seeing. But, in a sense, it is a disappointing reminder of what the Bolshoi once was. One can only hope this revival is to be the benchmark for future productions.





"Romeo and Juliet" is next scheduled for Jan. 17 at the Bolshoi Theater. For tickets call the box office at 292-9986 or EPS ticket service at 927-6982 or 927-6983. Nearest metro: Okhotny Ryad.