“A greatly talented choreographer is taking risks,” wrote dance critic Arlene Croce of Kenneth MacMillan and his 1978 ballet Mayerling. A three-act study of royal privilege and pathology, with not two or three pas de deux, but seven, Mayerling tells the story of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary, who ended it all in a hunting lodge, in a suicide pact with his mistress, Mary Vetsera. The Stuttgart has mounted a new production with cooly monochromatic sets and costumes by Jürgen Rose. —L.J.

Similar events around the world: Mayerling, sets and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis, Paris Opera Ballet, Palais Garnier (May 12–20, 2020).

Mayerling was featured in the July 27, 2019 issue of Air Mail. Read on