Lyric Opera Of Kansas City Announces ROMEO ET JULIETTE 

Lyric Opera of Kansas City announces Roméo et Juliette, running March 9-17, 2024 at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Kansas City native son tenor Ben Bliss will return to Lyric Opera of Kansas City (The Abduction from the Seraglio, 2019).  

An all-star cast makes their Lyric Opera debuts on the Kauffman stage for Roméo et  Juliette including soprano Andriana Chuchman, baritone Johnathan McCullough,  bass-baritone Nicholas Newton, and bass José Oliváres. Returning to Lyric Opera of  Kansas City are conductor Christopher Allen (The Elixir of Love, 2016, La traviata,  2022) and bass Ben Wager (La bohème, 2014, The Italian Girl in Algiers, 2014, Tosca,  2015 and The Pirates of Penzance, 2017).  

Sandler Kemper stated, “Our 2023-2024 season continues with Roméo et Juliette, a  grand-scale classic production with a gorgeous score. The four stunning duets written  for the star-crossed lovers are simply beautiful. Gounod's music takes the audience on  their journey from infatuation to deep love and ultimately to their tragic end.” 

How can you heighten the drama of Shakespeare's most  famous play? By giving it the French grand opera treatment. Gounod's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet follows Shakespeare's centuries-old tale and brings this familiar tragedy to an epic crescendo. Romeo Montague has fallen for Juliet Capulet, a member of a rival family in the City of Verona. They secretly marry, but family tensions come to a dramatic peak. A plan is hatched to keep them together; however, it plays out in all the wrong ways resulting in devastating tragedy. With an expansive score, gorgeous sets, and period costumes, you'll see Shakespeare's tale as you've never experienced it before. 

 

Roméo et Juliette (1867) 

Composer : Charles Gounod 

Librettists: Jules Barbier and Michel Carré 

Sung in French with English subtitles  

Artists and Artistic Team 

Conductor: Christopher Allen 

Production by: Matthew Ozawa 

Director & Fight Choreographer: Doug Scholz-Carlson 

Dance Choreographer: Caroline Dahm 

Roméo: Ben Bliss 

Juliette: Andriana Chuchman* 

Mercutio: Johnathan McCullough* 

Frère Laurent: Nicholas Newton*

Count Capulet: Ben Wager 

Tybalt: Benjamin Ruiz  

Duke of Verona: José Oliváres*  

Stéphano: Christine Boddicker 

Gertrude: Deanna Ray Eberhart 

Gregorio: Riley Findley 

Benvolio: Angelo Silva 

Count Paris: Jonathan Bryan 

* Lyric Opera of Kansas City debut 

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (1601 Broadway, KCMO 64108) • Saturday, March 9, 2024 at 7:30 pm, Friday, March 15, 2024 at 7:30 pm, Sunday, March 17, 2024 at 2:00 pm.

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