‘ROMEO + JULIET’: Rachel Zegler & Kit Connor. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

ROMEO + JULIET
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Sam Gold
Circle in the Square Theatre
235 West 50^th Street
https://romeoandjulietnyc.com/

By Scott Harrah

William Shakespeare’s classics are often revived with modern-day costumes and endless gimmicks to help bring in new, younger audiences. Sam Gold has previously directed two “reinvented” productions of the Bard’s classics, Macbeth and King Lear (which starred the late Glenda Jackson in a gender-bending role as King Lear). Mr. Gold has been more successful putting a contemporary spin on other classics, namely his outstanding revival of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People earlier this season (which also played at Circle in the Square).

Back in 2013, David Leveaux directed a dismal revival of Romeo and Juliet, starring the miscast Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad in which Romeo rode onto the stage on a motorcycle and Juliet delivered the iconic “Romeo, Oh Romeo” soliloquy by rote in American vernacular. This revival of Shakespeare’s popular classic about ill-fated lovers is a far superior production, but that would not be hard.

Mr. Gold’s interpretation of the story of the Capulets vs. the Montagues in Verona, Italy in the 14^th century (or later—scholars cannot seem to agree on the time period) is “modern” in the broadest sense. The circular theatre-in-the-round setting is used as a vehicle for all the madness happening on stage and off. We see overhead catwalks and a bed that goes up and down. Towers of teddy bears are seen on stage (don’t ask) and actors climb up on ladders to shout out their lines.

Need a brief plot summary? Shakespeare himself said it best in the prologue: ”Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.”

Despite the insanity in this production—from the cast dancing provocatively before the show to Enver Chakartash’s outrageous costumes—fortunately there are two solid actors playing the lead roles. Kit Connor (who played the older Elton John in the 2019 biopic Rocket Man) is the perfect teenage heartthrob as Romeo. Although Romeo + Juliet is not a musical, this production inserts short songs throughout the show, with music by Jack Antonoff and movement direction and choreography by Sonya Tayeh. Mr. Connor has a nice voice and the dynamic stage presence necessary to pull off the character.

Rachel Zegler, best known for playing Maria in the Steven Spielberg remake of West Side Story, is one of the show’s standouts. She adds the right mix of vulnerability and determination in her performance. When she sings, Ms. Zegler almost looks and sounds like a younger version of Ariana Grande. She has all the passion, spark and yearning of a young girl who is deliriously in love for the first time.

The other noteworthy performance is given by the marvelous Gabby Beans (Tony nominee for the Lincoln Center revival of The Skin of Our Teeth). She brilliantly portrays three characters: the wisecracking Mercutio (Romeo’s best friend), Romeo’s advisor the Friar and Prince Escalus, who tries unsuccessfully to make peace between the Montagues and Capulets.

Not everything works in this revamped version of the doomed young lovers of Verona. Modernized versions of Shakespeare have become standard fare on Broadway the past few years, and Sam Gold’s Romeo + Juliet is hardly as offensive or a “bastardization” like other 21^st century versions we have seen the past decade. Still, it would be great to someday soon see Shakespeare’s works done the way they were intended to be performed: In period costumes, without gimmicks and in all the original Elizabethan era glory. It was only 11 years ago in 2013 that two amazing British productions of Twelfth Night and Richard III were done in repertory, starring the legendary Mark Rylance and Stephen Fry. What made those two productions so enjoyable was their authenticity in recapturing the mood of that era. When performed in original period costumes, with musicians playing Elizabethan tunes, Shakespeare is much more palatable to modern audiences. With all the characters in his plays and endless subplots, Shakespeare makes for difficult reading, but when his plays are performed as the Bard intended, they are easy to follow and truly delightful. Mr. Gold’s Romeo + Juliet might be bringing in the Gen Z audience, but hopefully in future seasons Broadway will mount a few traditional Shakespeare revivals so the younger generation can judge for themselves whether they prefer a modernized Bard or plays performed in a more conventional manner.

Published October 24, 2024
Reviewed at October 19, 2024 press performance

‘ROMEO + JULIET’: Rachel Zegler & Kit Connor. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘ROMEO + JULIET’: Gabby Beans. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘ROMEO + JULIET’: Rachel Zegler & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘ROMEO + JULIET’: Kit Connor, Rachel Zegler & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘ROMEO + JULIET’: Rachel Zegler & Kit Connor. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

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‘THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH’: (left to right) Julian Robertson, Roslyn Ruff & Paige Gilbert. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH
Written by Thornton Wilder
With additional material by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz
Through May 29, 2022
Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont
150 West 65th Street
(800)331-0472, https://www.lct.org/

By Scott Harrah

Thornton Wilder’s 1942 Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Skin of Our Teeth was last revived on Broadway in 1955. It has not been produced in 67 years for numerous reasons. The epic is not nearly as accessible or universal as Our Town and is thorny and awkward in nature.  The story is a three-act saga of the ultimate survival of humanity and the Androbus family, married for 5,000 years and living in Excelsior, New Jersey. The story takes us from the Ice Age to Atlantic City in the 1920s to the end of an unspecified war and is convoluted indeed. It touches on everything from the Bible to technology to natural disasters and the environment.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has updated the story with new material since this production features a multi-ethnic cast, with the help of director Lileana Blain-Cruz. For example, sassy maid Sabina (Gabby Beans)—in a role originated by the late Tallulah Bankhead in 1942—starts out the show by breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the audience, but she talks about how she’s been in several August Wilson plays.

In Act One, a composite of the early 20^th century, Mrs. Antrobus (Roslyn Ruff) is in her New Jersey home with her children, Gladys (Paige Gilbert) and Henry (Julian Robertson). It is August but the entire Northeast of the USA is contending with a wall of ice that is moving south from Canada. Mr. Antrobus (James Vincent Meredith) is the inventor of everything from the lever, the wheel, multiplication tables and the alphabet. Refugees start arriving at the Antrobus home, all wanting food.  Some of the arriving refugees include Moses, the prophet Homer and Greek Muses. We also see one of the play’s highlights: Huge animated puppets of a dinosaur and a woolly mammoth that will remind many of the gorgeous horse puppets in a far superior Lincoln Center show a decade ago, War Horse.

Act Two takes place in 1920s Atlantic City, depicting a convention as well as a seaside carnival midway on the famous Boardwalk. Mr. Antrobus is being sworn in as president of “the Ancient and Honorable Order of Mammals, Subdivision Humans.”  Sabina appears as a conniving beauty pageant queen, trying to steal Mr. Antrobus away from his wife and family.  A gypsy fortune teller (Broadway veteran Priscilla Lopez) warns everyone about a storm about to hit the shoreline. Her prophecy comes true as a hurricane arrives, the story takes a biblical turn and family members start taking pairs of animals onto a large ship reminiscent of Noah’s Ark, indicating the world is ending.

Act Three is the play’s most confusing section.  We are back at the Antrobus home in New Jersey, but everything has been decimated by an unspecified war. The two Antrobus women have survived by hiding in a cellar and Gladys now has a baby. George Antrobus has been away fighting the war. Henry returns as a general, having fought on the opposite side.

All three acts are introduced with a “News of the World” newsreel, a clever touch by projectionist Hannah Wasileski.

Perhaps Thornton Wilder’s themes are meant to show us the resilience of humans through natural and man-made disasters. However,  what is presented here, with all the tweaks by director Lileana Blain-Cruz and playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, is all ultimately a more confusing night of theater.  While it was ambitious even attempting to update this monster of a play, the end result is a slog to sit through for most audiences. There are some occasionally funny moments and two noteworthy standouts. Newcomer Gabby Beans is a spunky delight as maid Sabina, and Priscilla Lopez shines as the fortune teller, with her lively performance.  The dinosaur and woolly mammoth puppets steal the show in Act One, and Adam Rigg’s sets are consistently impressive, but this production of The Skin of Our Teeth is too long and lugubrious to be palatable in the 21^st century.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 3, 2022
Reviewed at May 1, 2022 press performance.

‘THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH’: (left to right) Roslyn Ruff, Julian Robertson, Paige Gilbert & James Vincent Meredith. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH’: The cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH’: Priscilla Lopez. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH’: The cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH’: James Vincent Meredith & cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH’: Gabby Beans. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

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