If the sets, the blocking, and the youth of the cast of New York City Ballet’s “Romeo and Juliet” remind you of a cartoon version of the tragedy performed by a high school drama club, the ballet has furnished an effective vehicle for a group of the company’s most talented young dancers.

For those who seriously love the company and the art form, this provokes both consternation and pleasure: consternation at how the production “dances down” to the audience in a theater whose raison d’etre has always been serious art; and satisfaction at watching the extraordinarily appealing young dancers make something of their roles. On Saturday afternoon, the brilliance of the two young leads — Erica Pereira as Juliet (18 years old and still an apprentice dancer) and Allen Peiffer ( just a few years older) as Romeo — tipped the scales in favor of the production.

Ms. Pereira is a slight but strong dancer with beautiful arms, long legs, and a flexible back who caused a stir among ballet aficionados at last year’s School of American Ballet workshop. She has not only physical facility but also appears to be a natural actress. Her dramatic reading of the character on Saturday afternoon — progressing credibly from innocence to eroticism, determination, and then fear before a compelling death scene — was extraordinarily precocious.

Mr. Peiffer was just as striking as Romeo: He’s a prince by physical type, long legged and with the stretched lines and elegant physique more commonly found in boys trained at the Kirov or Bolshoi academies in Russia than at New York City Ballet, where the men have recently tended to be punchier and more muscled. As was true of Ms. Pereira, he transcended the given material and gave a coherent, dramatic reading of his role. Of everyone who danced Romeo these past two weeks, he realized the death scene the best. Upon discovering Paris approaching the tomb with flowers, Romeo jumps on the catafalque and then pounces upon his rival and kills him. With Mr. Peiffer, this moment was finally unforced and convincing.

In the supporting roles, Daniel Ulbricht continued his triumph in the role of Mercutio (I doubt we shall ever be able to see this without thinking of him), while Antonio Carmena, as Benvolio; Craig Hall as Tybalt; Ask LaCour as Friar Laurence; Jock Soto and Darci Kistler as Lord and Lady Capulet; Jonathan Stafford as Paris; Gwyneth Muller as the nurse, and Albert Evans as the Prince of Verona, all successfully repeated their earlier strong performances.