Utah Opera's "Romeo and Juliet" -- by naudy (it gets a 6)

NOW PLAYING
OCTOBER 15 -23, 2005
CALL 355-ARTS FOR TICKET INFO

It's in French so don't expect it to be a) exciting, b) overdramatic, or c) in English. My buddies in the chorus complain that all the applause at the end of the performace is best described as "polite." They get polite applause because it's a polite piece of theater. There are lovely chorus pieces, some sweet arias, and lucious lighting and set design. Costumes are a bit messy (Juliette being immersed in wads and bundles of white gauze while the menfolk all have flower-print tunics on) but I always have a problem with their costuming (and the unfortunate penchant for crushed velvet.) I will make a definitative statement and say, though it may surprise you, that not all men are shown to their advantage while wearing tights and a codpiece. I know. It's shocking. I, as a red-blooded American woman, should be all about the wanton display of male near-nudity, but I really just find it unsettling, particullarly when we're talking about opera singers. A lot of those guys are doing good to maintain a consistent panda-bear-like shape. Tights don't help. Codpieces, at the best of times are troubling. At the Utah Opera they're downright off-putting.

What is interesting (i.e. different) about this production of R&J is the advertising campaign. They dropped the ticket prices ($10!), and have created all these "youthful" (aka "silly") radio and televison spots to promote this production. They let me know that Juliette is on the "blogsphere" [http://yonderwindowbreaks.blogspot.com/] I even got a letter from the opera telling me The top five reasons why this is a must-see production. Are you curious? "What could be the top five!" you ask? "How could they narrow it down to just five reasons!" you blurt? "When they wrote this list did they have me (someone under 70 yrs old) in mind" you ponder? "Hurry up and tell me so we can get this over with!" you demand?? Well, here you go:

1. It's Shakespear, dummy, and you know that's good for you.
2. Charles Gounod (composer) is good at pretty love duets and it's the best version of this play in opera form that we've got. So, this sucks less than a lot of other things, therefore, it's good for you.
3. !!REALISTIC SWORDFIGHTING!! REALLY!!! IT'S WORTH YOUR TICKET PRICE JUST TO SEE IF UNCOORDINATED OVERWEIGHT OPERA SINGERS MANAGE NOT TO IMPALE THEMSELVES OR OTHERS WHILE DOING ALL THEIR CHOREOGRAPHY AT HALF-SPEED!!!
4. It's a really big chorus! (meaning: We've got contracts to fufill people, so get your butts in the seats! It's good for you!)
5. Romeo and Juliette are married in real life!! They roll around in bed together all the time so it's okay that they're doing it on stage!! And if you know what's good for you, you'll come!!!!

Yeah, I thought it was a fairly pathetic list of things as well. I still went, though, but only 'cause I wanted to see if I could pick out my buddy Angie on stage simply by knowing that she was exhibiting a minimum of 4" of cleavage at all times.
I'm pleased to say that I could. And, if you go to the opera, you can see her cleavage, too.