Romeo and Juliet

The final production of the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble’s 2016 Shakespeare Festival is the beloved “Romeo and Juliet,” the show that launched the company in 2011. As with the two previous productions, “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “Bells are Ringing,” this production continues the level of excellence that we have come to expect from this company.

Director Rob Salas explains that the company decided to look to the ancient practice of forming a story circle, and so there is a blank stage with chairs in a semi-circle with some random wooden pieces stacked in back and the one necessary set piece — a rough-hewn balcony off to the side. As each scene ends, the players take their seats again and the next players come up to do the next scene.

The device is surprisingly effective — and works especially well during the sword fights (choreographed by Sydney Schwindt), where the men have the entire stage at their disposal and look quite professional wielding their swords and daggers.

It’s a dream cast. Gabby Battista is a beautiful Juliet, whose face registers every emotion she feels, especially as she tries to balance her grief over the slaying of cousin Tybalt and the banishment of her secret husband, Romeo. She’s both delicate and strong at the same time.

Kyle Stoner’s Romeo is a bundle of pubertal energy, raging hormones first for the lovely Rosaline, and then instant switch to the lovelier Juliet. (It always amazes me that these two young teenagers meet, fall in love, marry and die within two days!) Stoner’s emotions are full out, whether expressing his love of Juliet or his despair at learning he has been banished from Verona.

Even if the rest of the cast weren’t excellent (and they are), this show would be worth seeing if only for the performance of Gail Dartez as Juliet’s nurse. Everyone should have a devoted servant like this. She can be very funny, or very emotional, first keeping Juliet’s secret, and then discovering her supposedly dead body. She is Juliet’s best friend and confidante and brings comic relief to the story with her often inappropriate and long-winded comments..

The Hatfield-McCoy-like warring families are led by Tim Gaffaney (Capulet) and Will Oberholtzer (Montague). Oberholtzer also plays Friar Laurence, a meatier role than that of Juliet’s father, as he hopes that by secretly marrying the two lovers, he can bring peace to the Capulet and Montague families.

Lisa Halko, a grandmother in real life, so the oldest in the cast, is a marvelous Lady Capulet. She doesn’t quite know how to be a mother to the daughter she entrusted to a wet-nurse at birth, but she is very interested in the match her husband has arranged with Paris, a kinsman of the prince.

Kevin Gish as Paris at first seems a good match for Juliet , but his imperious and demanding attitude quickly shows his true character and you can easily see that she will become an abused wife if the marriage takes place.

Costumes for this production are by Caitlin Cisek and Karly Goodwin. With all that black leather, it looks like they bounced right out of “West Side Story,” and it is both sinister and regal, sometimes simultaneously.

The plan for this play by Davis Shakespeare Ensemble is to make the production accessible to high school students, so they are making it a field trip destination for many schools all over Yolo and Sacramento counties.

The appeal to a younger audience is the only excuse I can find for the abominable background “music” you might call it. The pre-show “music” was so loud and ear-shattering that it gave me a headache, but the single-note fuzzy synthesizer background, sometimes with added ominous unintelligible voices, was so irritating it nearly spoiled this otherwise wonderful production.

It also seemed random. Sometimes it was unrelenting. Sometimes it stopped for certain soliloquies (thank goodness the balcony scene was unsullied!). Sometimes it kept going over the dialog of a special scene and stopped midway through. Sometimes it was louder than other times. It was always annoying.

I hoped for relief at intermission, but it continued all through intermission as well. I guess it was supposed to keep the gloomy mood going. I checked with people around me, all of whom were in my age range. One woman didn’t mind it, but everyone else hated it. I don’t know if the fault is with sound designer Adam Smith or if the decision was made by someone else and simply executed by Smith, but whatever, it is not something that is likely to appeal to the over-50 crowd.

Were it not for the music, or whatever it was, this production would receive an A-plus.

Romeo and Juliet

Emily Jo Seminoff and Colin Coate portray the star-crossed lovers.
Courtesy photo

“Romeo and Juliet” is Shakespeare’s most popular romance, and his most unnecessary tragedy. It is now moving audiences at the Woodland Opera House, under the direction of Rodger McDonald, who also gives a powerful performance as Friar Lawrence.

It’s a very odd set, designed by John Bowles, consisting of four gray-colored slanted platforms, placed one in front of the other across the entire stage to give different levels to the scenes in a sort of switchback effect (providing great opportunity for lively swordplay). But Denise Miles’ beautiful costumes place the cast right in the 16th century without need for more complicated set pieces.

Colin Coate is Romeo, in the throes of his first real love. He has the swagger and the bravado of a young man, when in the company of his friends, upholding the Montague family honor against the generations-long enemy, the Capulets, and yet is awkward and shy when in the presence of Juliet, who makes his hormones rage, though he does not quite know how to woo her.

As Juliet, Emily Jo Seminoff was demure and dazzling in a flowing virginal white gown. Nearly 14, and on the verge of puberty, she embraces this would-be suitor, swoons at thoughts of him and flirts shamelessly when in his presence. It is a gentle side of Seminoff I have not seen before and she carries it off beautifully. This Juliet is already defiant of her parents. She knows what she wants and she isn’t going to let family stand in her way.

Patricia Glass is superb as Juliet’s nurse and confidante. Hers was one of the strongest performances in the show.

Sara Wieringa is stunning in her role as Lady Capulet, portraying her as a strong woman yet distant as a mother and wife, while her husband (Steve Mackay) is determined that Juliet will wed the somewhat bland Paris (Gabe Avila) and will not hear any argument to the contrary.

Romeo’s cousin, Benvolio, is played by Luke Crabbe. He is a likeable fellow and loyal to his friend. It is Benvolio who helps Romeo hide after he murders Juliet’s cousin Tybalt (Jay Patrick). Patrick seemed an odd choice for this role, as, in his Canadian Mountie red-colored coat and large black mustache, he seemed older than the rest of his friends.

Jason Oler, a familiar face to Sacramento audiences, makes his Woodland debut playing Mercutio. Neither Capulet nor Montague, it is Mercutio who sneaks Romeo into the Capulet masked ball, where he first sets eyes on Juliet. After Tybalt threatens Romeo’s life, Mercutio intends to engage him in a duel, but Romeo intervenes and inadvertently causes Mercutio’s death.

Others in the cast include Gil Sebastian and Jessica Woehler as Lord and Lady Montague and Sara Matsui-Colby as the Princess. Special mention also should be made of Mary and Melissa Dahlberg, whose job it was to be servants and stand around through endless scenes. They did it very well!

There is no program credit given for choreography of the fight scenes, but the swordplay was very well done, and probably would have pleased Errol Flynn himself.

The death scene is very touching … and painful … realizing what family feuds can cost. The arrangement of the stage allows for the entire cast to be on stage when the lovers die, which makes for a lovely tableau.

Romeo and Juliet

In fair Verona does Sacramento Theater Company set its scene.

That would be Verona, New Jersey, 1930.

Two mob households, both alike in dignity – the Italian Capulets and the Jewish Montagues.

For Sacramento Theater company, this is the first time in its 69 year history that it has presented “Romeo and Juliet,” but director Ed Claudio’s updated vision proves, once again, that the themes of family conflict and young love haven’t changed since the time of Shakespeare and remain relevant today.

The character of Romeo has always bothered me.  He’s head over heels in love with Rosaline, to where he cannot eat, cannot sleep and risks sneaking into a ball at the enemy Capulet home in hope of seeing her.  But on viewing the young Juliet, all thoughts of Rosaline dissolve and suddenly he is head over heels in love with Juliet.  Does not bode well for a lasting relationship.

Good thing he doesn’t live long enough to attend another ball and see another beautiful girl. (oops...spoiler alert!)

Despite the failings of Romeo’s character, there are no failings in the performance of Andrew Joseph Perez, a handsome, muscular young man with a six pack he’s not embarrassed to show off.  Perez appeared in the recent Capital Stage production of “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” where he played a wrestler. A lot of the moves he perfected in that production come in to play in his fight scenes in this production, and he climbs Juliet’s balcony effortlessly...more than once.  (Not surprisingly, Perez is also the fight choreographer for the production)

Denver Skye Vaughn may be a recent university graduate, but her Juliet looks every bit 15, a waifish figure who has to display a range of emotions from giddy young girl experiencing her first love, to defiant daughter who is going to have her Romeo despite the feelings of her dictatorial father, to fearful wife, taking a potion which will knock her out long enough for everyone to think her dead, to distraught widow, unable to live with her husband dead.  She nails each emotion and takes the audience along with her for the roller coaster ride.

Amazing how much can happen in the space of a couple of days!

Despite all the murders and suicides in this play, usually classed as a tragedy, there’s a lot of funny stuff.  In fact, act 1 is hilarious.  Director Claudio explains that there are many elements of comedy before and even after the deaths of some of the major characters in the story.  With comedienne Amy Kelly as the Nurse you can’t help but have laugh out loud scenes.  She is larger than life and dominates nearly every scene in which she appears.

There is little comedy, however, in Kirk Blackinton’s Capulet, whose rage at his daughter more than just borders on domestic violence.  He is a smoldering cauldron whose sadness at the death of his daughter comes a little too late.

Matt K. Miller is back on the STC stage as the wise Rabbi Laurence, a departure from the Friar Laurence of the original.  (Some dialog changes had to be made, as a rabbi is unlikely to invoke the name of “Holy St. Francis” which became “Jumping Jehosaphat”)

The supporting cast is very strong, with Dan Fagan as Benvolio, Sean Patrick Nill as Tybalt, Jeb Burris as Mercutio, Kristine David as Lady Capulet.  Kevin Frame and Ernestso Bustos, as a cop and the Constable are also quite effective in their characterizations.

Scenic designer Anna Katharine Mantz has designed a beautiful wooden set with many levels, the house of each of the families on opposite sides of the stage.

This is a beautiful looking, strongly acted production which has something for everyone, from broad comedy to exciting fight scenes to delicious eye candy to sexy romance to tear-jerking tragedy.  What’s not to like?

Romeo and Juliet

Those talented actors at Acme Theatre Company are tackling a Herculean task — they are putting on not one, but two simultaneous productions of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

One version has the regular mixed-gender cast, the other is an all-female version. As if that weren’t daunting enough, of the 43 actors, 20 are new to Acme, an always interesting situation, as the newcomers haven’t learned all the ropes yet.

I asked director Emily Henderson why she decided on such an ambitious project. She explained that the seeds were planted when she played Juliet in an all-female production at Wellesley College. Reading about UC Davis’ all-female/all-male/randomly mixed production when she was in high school was also part of the decision.

When auditions were held, she still hadn’t decided what kind of production it was to be. And given the number of strong actors, the decision to do two productions was made.

The productions are set in some dystopian time period where the House of Escalus rules with an iron fist, determined to bring peace to Verona and keep the warring houses of Capulet and Montague from disturbing that peace. The doors to the Brunelle Performance Hall are guarded by armed soldiers, who place a band around the wrist of each member of the audience. We are warned that the band must be worn at all times.

We are then directed to the stage of the theater, where chairs have been set up. The 500-seat Brunelle theater is so large it was felt that the intimacy of the play would be lost and so the audience becomes spectators on the streets of Verona.

I saw the all-female cast on Friday and the “regular” (for lack of a better word) cast on Saturday, and was glad that I had “committed myself to four hours of Shakespearean tragedy,” as Henderson put it. The feel of each production was unique and quite different from the other one.

As with all Acme shows for 30 years, the entire production suffers from actors who have not yet learned to project, and so while the actors who were good — were very, very good — there were also parts of each show that were impossible to hear.

The prologue, for example, in the all-female cast was so muddled that I couldn’t understand a word and so had little idea what was going on with the cast members on stage. Surely it would be better with the next cast, but no. I still have no idea what was said or what was going on, though it was a dramatic moment for the director and lighting designer Arina Ushakova, it was mostly lost on at least myself and my husband.

Callie Miller and Margaret Starbuck play the star-crossed lovers in the female production and one could not ask for better. Miller was lovely and innocent, falling in love for the first time. Starbuck as the young man who falls in love at first sight was a delight to watch as he experienced the feelings that come with that love. The balcony scene was a real high point and made one realize how very special it is when age-appropriate actors play these roles.

Miki Benson was an endearing Mercutio, Julia Smart Truco was outstanding as Benvolio, as was Eliza Buchanan as Juliet’s cousin Tybalt. Special kudos to Kashmir Kravitz as Friar Lawrence, whose dedication to the role was so great she even got a man’s haircut. Meili Monk gave a solid performance as Juliet’s nurse. Deanna Gee, in the small role of the servant Sampson, was very funny.

The alternate cast production was much more testosterone-driven. While Henderson approached the two casts with identical stage directions, she was surprised to discover that the cast dynamic resulted in quite different shows.

“With two casts, I built in entirely different directions,” she said. “The creativity that I thought has been coming from my head is truly coming from the energetic relationship between me and the actor.”

Eden Tomich and Antonio De Loera-Brust are the title characters in this production. Tomich is a strong-willed Juliet, determined to follow her heart’s desire. DeLoera-Brust is an athletic Romeo with a quick temper and a love for his Juliet, which is palpably aching. The death scene for both was heartbreaking.

Cole Yambrovich’s Mercutio was as fiery as his red hair, Matthew Karoly gave a warm performance as Romeo’s loyal friend Benvolio, and Katy Zaragoza-Smith did well with the complicated emotions of Juliet’s nurse, a wonderful comedienne, yet able to plumb the depths of her feelings of sadness as the losses begin to mount.

Daniel Tutt was a commanding and icy-cold Lord Capulet, banishing Juliet from his house if she refuses to marry Count Paris (Aaron Hirst).

I would be hard-pressed to say which of the two productions I enjoyed more. There is enough difference in the two casts that my recommendation would really be to see both and make up your own mind.

Special recognition needs to go to Dan Renkin, a loyal Acme alum, who once again flew in from New York to direct the fight choreography.