The Bolshoi Theatre?s director general proclaims that British audiences actually loved the new ?Romeo and Juliet.? The critics only panned it ?because the Bolshoi Theatre had broken classical stereotypes and created an unusual ballet.? And the issue was one of national literary pride: ?the critics were jealous about William Shakespeare [the way] that Russians were also jealous of foreign interpretations of Russian classics like Chekhov, Gogol, Ostrovsky, and others.?

Thanks to Ballet Alert! for another amusing link.