With a new artistic director and a slew of fresh young talent in the ranks, the Bolshoi Ballet is understandably eager to show the world a modern face for the 21st century. Unfortunately, its new production of ``Romeo and Juliet,'' which opened the company's five-day run at Zellerbach Hall this week, is not the right vehicle.

British theater director Declan Donnellan brings more than a few intriguing theatrical ideas to the ballet's staging, but he left most of the choreography to Moldovan Radu Poklitaru. The weakness of the choreography is evident in Donnellan's and/or Poklitaru's penchant for distributing the dancers in interesting patterns with little regard for how they get there. While the tableaux that the dancers form are often visually striking, the movements into and out of these pictures show no understanding of choreographic line or musicality.

Fortunately, Maria Alexandrova as Juliet and Denis Savin as Romeo are charismatic enough to carry the ballet. The technically brilliant Alexandrova, promoted to principal a few months ago, was already a star in the making at the Bolshoi's last appearance here in 2002. She and Savin share an ability to adapt to Poklitaru's modern idiom -- a low center of gravity, heavy swinging movement and often grotesque positions -- that sets them apart from the rest of the corps of ballet-trained dancers. In fact, the lanky, 20-year-old Savin remains in the corps even though he's dancing a lead role, another sign of new attitudes in the once rigidly hierarchical company.

Playing Mercutio, Yuri Klevtsov steals almost every scene he's in, whether in Roaring Twenties drag or a Don Johnson white suit and black T-shirt. Also notable were Denis Medvedev as a smarmy, short-fused Tybalt, and Alexander Petukhov, portraying Friar Laurence as an equally smarmy faith healer.

Artistic director Alexei Ratmansky has assured fans that despite this new staging, the Bolshoi will not abandon its classical heritage. The company returns to the more familiar grandeur of the 19th century with “Raymonda,'' which runs through Sunday.