Romeo and Juliet (Classic Stage Company)

You can't screw up Shakespeare, not completely, no matter how much you try. I learned that at the Classic Stage Company's production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Tea Alagic. Even though the result is uneven, to the say the least, I was still leaning forward at the end, even though I and every other literate person knows what happens.

This has gotten some terrible reviews, but it isn't an outright disaster. True, it's another example of a modernization without any rhyme or reason, but it isn't boring, which is the worst sin in theater. The cast is uneven but enthusiastic, and it was a crowd-pleaser, emphasizing the humor. But there are moments when you just have to wonder what everyone was thinking.

The set is a gym floor, with a set of chairs in the back. These chairs only come into play when Lady Capulet makes like Bobby Knight and hurls a few. The costumes are modern, but inconsistent--Romeo is in jeans and sneakers, but Tybalt is dressed like a lion tamer. The swords are mimed, but blood packets are used, which are collected from a bucket at the edge of the stage, as if a water balloon fight was being prepped. Lady Capulet wears tight fuchsia pants, matching leopard-print blouse and shoes, and smokes an e-cigarette. And, as seen above, Romeo wears a giant Winnie the Pooh head to the masked ball.

Romeo and Juliet is a very familiar play, and there's only so many times you can do the Renaissance Italian thing, I get that. But Alagic just seems to be flinging stuff at the wall to see what sticks. In addition to the costumes not being consistent, we've got a smattering of Spanish. The nurse, played by Daphne Rubin-Vega, does the full Puerto Rican thing. Over at the house of Capulet, Tybalt, in addition to his Siegfried and Roy outfit, speaks in a Spanish accent, pronouncing Romeo with an accent on the first syllable, like Alfa Romeo. No one else among the Capulets is Spanish.

So I have no idea what Alagic was trying to do, other than be different. The cuts, as there must be cuts, are also interesting--gone are the Chorus, the death of Paris, and the servant Peter in his entirety. Instead we do have the Friar's explanatory speech at the end, which is usually cut because, after all, he's telling us what we already know. But I liked it because it emphasizes the Friar's culpability, and allows Lord Capulet to wipe his bloody hand on the Friar's face. I also liked Benvolio being given the part of Balthasar at the end, which makes perfect sense.

The cast also de-emphasizes the poetry. Elizabeth Olsen, as Juliet, declaims very little. Never have I heard the line, "parting is such sweet sorrow" said so matter-of-factly. Romeo, played by Julian Cihi, is very good at making the poetry sound like casual speech. A few actors still give it the Edwin Booth style, notably Daniel Davis as the Friar, who is the highlight of the show. Before the show started, a girl behind me said, "I hate the Friar. He screws everything up."

A few of the scenes are very good. The scene in which Juliet is verbally abused by her father and told she will marry Paris is done very well, with Olsen at her most girlish (though 24, she's convincing as a teen, if not a 13-year-old) and David Garrison, wearing a Hefnerian smoking jacket, is really mean.

But more scenes are botched. The worst member of the cast is T.R. Knight as Mercutio, who is the best character of the play, and is supposed to make us sad because he's killed. Not in this instance. Knight plays him as if he's escaped from an asylum, and calls to mind Professor Irwin Corey.

Romeo and Juliet is hot again, with another production uptown starring Orlando Bloom, and a new film version with Hailee Steinfeld (which has rewritten the dialogue, so I'll pass for now). It's too good a play to ruin, despite certain attempts.

Incidentally, earlier in the day I saw Olsen in Kill Your Darlings. I waited afterward and got her autograph, and told her so, adding that she had been a big part of my day. I made her laugh. I'm a little in love.