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Prologue

Verona, 18th century. The chorus shares the tale of the endless feud between the Montague and Capulet families, and of the love for their children, Romeo and Juliet.

Acti

At a masked ball in the courtyard of the Capulet palace, Juliet’s cousin Tybalt assures Paris that Juliet, who has been promised to him, will enchant him. Count Capulet presents his daughter to the guests and invites everyone to dance. Mercutio and Romeo, Montagues, have donned masks to sneak into the ball, together with other friends. Romeo tells them about a strange dream he has had, but Mercutio dismisses it as the work of the fairy Queen Mab. Romeo watches Juliet and instantly falls in love with her. Juliet explains to her nurse, Gertrude, that she has no interest in marriage, but when Romeo approaches her in a quiet moment, both feel that they are meant for each other. Just as they discover each other’s identities, Tybalt happens upon them and recognizes Romeo. Count Capulet prevents Tybalt from attacking Romeo, who, with his friends, quickly depart from the ball.

Actii

Later that night, Romeo enters the Capulets’ garden, looking for Juliet. When she steps out onto her balcony, he declares his love. Their encounter is briefly interrupted, but when they are alone again, Juliet assures Romeo that she will be his forever.

Actiii

Romeo visits Frere Laurent and confesses his love for Juliet. Shortly thereafter, she also appears with Gertrude. Hoping that their love might reconcile their families, Frere Laurent marries them.

Outside the Capulet palace, Romeo’s page, Stephano, sings about a turtledove imprisoned in a nest of vultures. This angers several of the Capulets. Mercutio comes to Stephano’s aid, but soon Tybalt challenges him to fight. Romeo steps between them and asks Tybalt to forget about the hatred between their families. Tybalt has nothing but scorn for the Montagues, and when he kills Mercutio in their duel, Romeo stabs Tybalt to death. The Duke of Verona appears and, after both families demand justice, Romeo is exiled.

Activ

Romeo and Juliet have spent their secret wedding night in her room. She forgives him for killing Tybalt. The newlyweds passionately declare their love as day is dawning. They can hardly bring themselves to say goodbye. After Romeo has left, Count Capulet appears, together with Frere Laurent, and announces to his daughter that she is to marry Paris that same day. Desperate, Juliet turns to Frere Laurent, who gives her a potion that will make her appear to be dead. He promises that she will awaken with Romeo beside her. Love lends Juliet courage: She overcomes her fear and drinks the poison. On the way to the chapel where her wedding to Paris is to take place, Juliet collapses. To the guests’ horror, Count Capulet announces that she is dead.

Actv

Romeo arrives at the Capulets’ crypt. Discovering Juliet’s body, he believes her to be dead and drinks poison. At that moment, she awakens, and the lovers share a final dream of a future together. As Romeo grows weaker, Juliet takes a dagger from his belt and stabs herself. The lovers die praying for God’s forgiveness.

Romeo and Juliet. Together, these two names comprise the most famous pair of young lovers in Western consciousness, synonymous with an eternal form of love. Yet their story tells a raw gut-wrenching tragedy where love, violence and death are at times one and the same.

Pulling from one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, Gounod’s opera is a poetic interpretation of the conflict between youthful passionate desire and societal expectation. The true challenge in approaching any famous literary adaptation is seeing the material through a completely unbiased lens. How does one actually tell a story everyone knows so intimately as if for the first time? Or is part of the tragedy the fact that despite knowing the ending, we still desperately hope Romeo and Juliet will escape their fate?

I won’t lie that approaching such a well known story can be daunting. But what struck me so profoundly in re-examining the opera is how raw the music depicts the character’s extreme emotional states. Love and hate, while on opposite sides of the emotional spectrum are both fueled by passion, and it is this passion that ultimately leads to violence and then death.

Romeo and Juliet experience all forms of love from the joyful to romantic, passionate to overpowering. We root for their love because it is untarnished and seems exquisite. However, it is this precise youthful love that blinds Romeo and Juliet, enabling them to defy family, religion and society. In order to preserve the sanctity of their holy love in a world that cannot have such love exist, they must end their lives. It is this fate, this tragedy that makes our hearts weep each and every time. Ultimately, a world of violence will affect purity, and what more do we yearn for than the protection of an everlasting love.

Gounod’s music is filled with a lush dreamy quality that almost places Romeo and Juliet in a realm beyond that of the natural world. As a result, while our symbolic production sets the story during the time of Shakespeare, it mixes dreamlike images which both capture the idealism of love (large roses) with the dangerous world of societal division (a ceiling of weapons). Just as love morphs as Romeo and Juliet’s story develops, so too do the images of our show. Love, violence and death become intertwined, and time ultimately moves Romeo and Juliet swiftly forward to a fate that is both poetic and tragic. My sincere hope is that you open yourself to the joy and pain that is this timely love story.