Photo Flash: Perez and Domingo in ROMET ET JULIETTE at The Met
By: Alan Henry Apr. 24, 2018
BroadwayWorld has a first look at Bartlett Sher's production of Gounod's sumptuous Shakespeare adaptation of Romet et Juliette, which was a hit of the 2016-17 Met season ("a revelation" declared the Huffington Post). Now the sweeping tragedy returns with Ailyn Pérez and Charles Castronovo as the star-crossed young lovers. Plácido Domingo conducts.
Perhaps the most enduringly successful of the many operatic settings of the world's consummate love story, Roméo et Juliette is an excellent example of French Romanticism, a tradition that values subtlety, sensuality, and graceful vocal delivery over showy effects. In the opera there is a slight shift of focus away from the word games of the original play and a greater focus on the two lovers, who are given four irresistible duets, including a brief final reunion in the tomb scene that does not appear in the play.
Charles Gounod (1818-1893) showed early promise as a musician and achieved commercial success with his opera Faust in 1859. Among his most famous works is a setting of the Ave Maria based on a piece by J. S. Bach. Jules Barbier (1825-1901) and Michel Carré (1821-1872) were the leading librettists of their time in France, providing the text for many other operas, including Faust for Gounod, Mignon (also from Goethe) and Hamlet for Ambroise Thomas, and Les Contes d'Hoffmann for Jacques Offenbach.
In Shakespeare's lifetime, Italy was a land of many small city-states in constant warfare with one another, but this same country was also the cradle of the Renaissance, with its astounding explosion of art and science. The image invoked by the story's setting in the ancient city of Verona, then, is a beautiful but dangerous world wherepoetry or violence might erupt at any moment. The Met's new production moves the action to the 18th century.
For tickets and more visit https://www.metopera.org/season/2017-18-season/romeo-et-juliette-gounod-tickets/
Check out photos of the cast in action below!
Ailyn Pérez as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.
Andrea Shin as Roméo in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Photo by Ken Howard / Met Opera
Ailyn Pérez as Juliette and Andrea Shin as Roméo in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Photo: Ken Howard / Met Opera
Joshua Hopkins as Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Photo by Ken Howard / Met Opera
Joshua Hopkins as Mercutio and Andrea Shin as Roméo in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Photo by Ken Howard / Met Opera
Laurent Naouri as Capulet in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.
Kwangchul Youn as Frère Laurent, Andrea Shin as Roméo, and Ailyn Pérez as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.
Laurent Naouri as Capulet and Ailyn Pérez as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.
Karine Deshayes as Stéphano in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.
A scene from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.
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