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There’s much to love in Helgi Tomasson’s production of Romeo & Juliet, starting with Prokofiev’s sumptuous score.

The ballet’s second act, following Giselle’s death, is set in a spooky, mystical realm, precisely the kind of thing that so intrigued its 19th century audiences and made this ballet an instant classic.

Helgi Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov's restaging of the 1869 Petipa classic brings a sunny smile to faces in San Francisco. 

With Tchaikovsky’s dear, familiar overture, the reassuring sameness of Wendall K Harrington’s slide show projecting 1915 San Francisco scenes onto the curtains, we were all, most decisively, back. 

Benjamin Freemantle danced the opening solo, gorgeously, in the role of the grandfather as a dreamy young Adonis.