Romeo And Juliet

Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is an early tragedy by William Shakespeare about two teenage star-cross'd lovers. The play has been highly praised by literary critics for its language and dramatic effect. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and is one of his most frequently performed plays.

Music
At least 24 operas have been based on Romeo and Juliet. The earliest, Romeo und Julie, a Singspiel by Georg Benda. It is occasionally revived. The best-known is Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, a critical triumph and frequently revived today. Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi is also revived from time to time.

The play has also had a number of musical theatre adaptations, the most famous of which is West Side Story. It debuted on Broadway in 1957 and in London's West End in 1958, and became a popular film in 1961. This version updated the setting to mid-20th century New York City. Other musical adaptations include Terrence Mann's 1999 rock musical William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Gerard Presgurvic's 2001 Romeo et Juliette, de la Haine a l'Amour and Riccardo Cocciante's 2007 Giulietta & Romeo. The best-known ballet version is Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet in 1938. Romeo et Juliette by Berlioz is a "symphonie dramatique", premiered in 1839. The Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, by Tchaikovsky, contains the famous melody known as the "love theme".

Romeo and Juliet - the Musical, an adaptation of a French hit, but billed as a new musical, lands on the West End stage. It is a fun evening. The musical opens with "This Is Verona." as the rival families wriggle on climbing frames making Verona look like Europe's vice capital with its leather clad pimps and barely clad girls. David Beckham comes centre stage playing Tybalt. The dance is the kind of frenetic choreography. Juliet's appearance is a shock. She is so very young and. Juliet's balcony is made out of parallel bars making her look as if she is in a playpen. Romeo and Juliet are sweet children and sing sweetly.

Jane McDonald, plays the Nurse. Sevan Stephan, plays Friar Lawrence. Andrew Bevis and Alexis James have all the making of teen heart throbs, beautiful to look at and with nice voices. Gerard Presgurvic's music is well enough sung. The singers belt out the songs but they are somehow melody free. The ball room scene has a backdrop of a badly copied Botticelli's Birth of Venus. Barely a word from the Bard is allowed to survive. Instead, it is as if one gave the text to a group of thirteen year olds and asked them to translate it, the boring and banal replacing the poetic. Don Black's lyrics are commonplace and mercilessly lacking in wit. Each line is five or six or seven syllables, "We'll meet in the sky/So we'll say good bye".

Artistic license has also been taken with the story. Tybalt declares his love for Juliet and Romeo does not meet, let alone murder, Paris in the churchyard. Everyone is very fashionably dressed. Red and black leather for the Montagues, Red and purple for the Capulet. Direction has the cast appearing up in the Dress Circle as all is kept on the move. The American tourist has not returned to London in any great numbers. Without them, London's theatrical producers are looking for a new audience. Second City Theatricals and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre have teamed up to present the smash hit musical "Second City's Romeo and Juliet Musical - The People vs. Friar Laurence: The Man Who Killed Romeo and Juliet." This new musical is a hilarious parody of Shakespeare's most famous love story.