REVIEW: ROMEO & JULIET at the Guthrie Theater

 

We all know ROMEO & JULIET are two star-crossed teenagers - but that doesn't mean everyone else has to be ancient. Following their successful co-production of HENRY V last year, the Guthrie Theater and The Acting Company presents Shakespeare's classic love story. With a cast of young performers, the production is alive with youthful vigor - though not in all the right places.

Director Penny Metropulos transports the play to turn-of-the-century Verona, where the warring houses of Capulet and Montague first attack each other with their canes - before they unleash the blades underneath. But amidst all this strife Romeo and Juliet still find each other - in a night illuminated by fireworks. But fate doesn't let their bliss last long, as increasing violence and opposition lead the two lovers to their ultimate fate.

Any ROMEO & JULIET is dependent on the charisma of the titular characters - after all, who wants to watch two boring teens whine for 2 1/2 hours? This production succeeds only partly. On the surface, Sonny Valicenti and Laura Esposito make an attractive pair. Yet while Valicenti's Romeo is appropriately brooding and anguished, Esposito's Juliet is a bit of a bore. She's charming enough, but frequently suffers from flat delivery. Her loving soliloquies sound like she's already recited them one too many times.

The point of the production - and The Acting Company's mission - is to employ younger performers. Yet it becomes problematic when some can't shake their youthfulness, particularly when the role demands it. This is especially the case with Christine Weber as Lady Capulet. Though a fine actress, Weber amounts to nothing more mature than Juliet's older sister - there's nothing motherly about her.

The most fascinating part of the production is the unconventional portrayal of the Nurse. Other characters describe her as ugly, slow and stupid - some thins the Nurse herself reiterates. Yet with Elizabeth Stahlmann in the role, the Nurse is beautiful, slender, and definitely not stupid. Stahlmann grants her character more subtlety than the cartoonish Nurse is usually given. When the Nurse's purpose is to be ridiculous, she's just not that funny. But as events unfold, Stahlmann's brilliance shines through. When she advises Juliet to marry Paris, she does it consciously out of love - not stupidity or ignorance. It's a heartbreaking moment, and lets Stahlmann walk away with the night's best performance in a way no Nurse has ever done before.

The cast is filled with fine performers, though they tend to mug for the audience too often. A few of them teeter on the line of melodrama; once or twice Valicenti and Raymond L. Chapman (as Friar Laurence) tipped too far in the big moments and drew some chuckles from the audience.

Metropulos keeps things simple and lets the actors tell the story. They are well-served by Neil Patel's industrial set of brick, steel and electric light, which evokes the time period without pinning it down to specifics. Some of the conventions add a bit of humor (the aforementioned cane sword fights), but the danger is always real.

This ROMEO & JULIET may not have audiences reaching for Kleenex in devastation, but it's a solid production of a story everyone knows. The show is set to tour after it closes at the Guthrie, so the team has some time to iron out the kinks before it hits the road. As it stands now, it's well-performed with a few flashes of brilliance. But being there for those flashes is worth it.

 

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