The stars of screen and stage align as Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Tony Award Nominee Condola Rashad (Stick Fly) take on the roles of Shakespeare’s legendary star-crossed lovers, ROMEO AND JULIET.
The most famous love story ever told returns to Broadway for the first time in 36 years in a stunning new production from five-time Tony nominee David Leveaux. Jealousy. Prejudice. Betrayal. And the chance that true love could actually conquer all. That’s Romeo and Juliet.
When you get to the theater, make sure to share the love! Patrons are encouraged to bring locks to hang on our #RJLOVELOCK fence outside of our theater. Patrons can also check into ROMEO AND JULIET on Broadway on Facebook and receive a free lock from the merchandise stand.
Would that Mr. Bloom's big entrance led to something interesting, but this 'R & J' is a slick, weightless assemblage of modern-dress trickery (Romeo wears a hoodie and jeans) whose conception is as stale as its been-there-seen-that décor and TV-movie music. From the low-impact knife fight to the brutally abridged tomb scene (what happened to Paris?), it proceeds systematically along its overfamiliar way, never missing a chance to be obvious. When the star-crossed lovers paw one another lasciviously at their first meeting, you can almost hear Mr. Leveaux assuring himself, 'That ought to thrill the kiddies.'
Regrettably, it's the stage-long row of flames that rises from the floor and makes the occasional dramatic cameo that provides any kind of heat in director David Leveaux's soggy production of Romeo and Juliet. Despite the presence of some fine actors who manage to light some sparks here and there, this gimmicky rendering of Shakespeare's tale of adolescent lust gone tragic is curiously lacking in tension, passion, romance and, for some cast members, clear diction.
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