Buckley-inspired Shakespeare musical make for swift, action-filled night
By Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Theater Critic
Michael Kimmel conceived and adapted William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” as a Broadway-type musical titled “The Last Goodbye” that uses 16 songs, most written or recorded by the late Jeff Buckley, an eclectic folk-rocker who died when he was 30.
The ardent and poetic Buckley had much in common with Shakespeare’s ardent and poetic Romeo. Buckley wrote of love, longing and the pain of separation endured by humankind. Both Shakespeare’s fictional wooer and the real, sensitive singer-songwriter died way too young.
The Williamstown Theatre Festival produced the world premiere of Kimmel’s “The Last Goodbye” in 2010. The updated Old Globe production opened Sunday, Oct. 6, directed by Alex Timbers (“Peter and the Starcatcher” and “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson”).
Surprisingly, Kimmel’s concept and adaptation, and Buckley’s songs complement each other, though some Shakespeare purists may be put off by the piece, which conflates the action in various scenes and does away entirely with Count Paris’ 11th hour slaying in the tomb of the Capulets.
There are numerous times when the frantic goings-on and the high-decibel music distract from Shakespeare’s text. There is no denying, however, that the result of Kimmel’s cuts make a swift, action-filled evening, rife with opposing, leather-clad teen gangs armed with knives and swords, and filled with unspent sexual longing and bravado.
As we know, it’s a recipe for disaster, even today, though the weapons have changed.
Quite simply, Romeo Montague (played by ultra-appealing Jay Armstrong Johnson, blessed with a beautiful voice and a fabulous high falsetto) falls in love with Juliet Capulet (petite Talisa Friedman, whose voice is more edgy than any Juliet ever seen), the 13-year-old daughter of a rival faction in circa-unspecific Verona.
Count Paris (Eric Morris) asks Capulet (Daniel Oreskes) for his daughter’s hand and is told, “let two more summers wither their pride / ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.”
Juliet is ripe. Romeo is ready. Friar Laurence (Stephen Bogardus) marries them and tragedy ensues when Romeo slays Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt (Jeremy Woodard), in a street fight. Romeo is banished.
Faced with her clueless parents’ edict that she marry Paris, Juliet takes a potion that gives the appearance of death, then waits in the tomb for the potion to wear off and for Romeo to reawaken her. Romeo fails to receive Laurence’s letter about Juliet’s condition, thinks she’s dead, and poisons himself. Juliet awakens, sees Romeo dead, and kills herself with his dagger.
Tonye Patano, who received a Critics Circle Award for her role in “Ruined” at La Jolla Playhouse, is an excellent nurse. Hale Appleman portrays Mercutio, and Brandon Gill presents a gripping Benvolio. Gill’s gorgeous voice and diction add much to the closing scene, sung to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” which Buckley recorded to great acclaim.
Orchestrator, music director and arranger Kris Kukul leads a seven-piece orchestra from the keyboard. The list of orchestra members includes sequestered strings, which I did not hear at all in Ken Travis’s sound design. They could have contributed poignancy. The vocal and orchestral mix is good for the most part, and I detected only one instance of ensemble off-pitch singing.
Christopher Barreca’s heavy scenic design, Sonya Tayeh’s choreography and Kate Waters’ fight direction are impressive, and Jennifer Moeller’s costumes are grand, especially the masks. Justin Townsend shines a lot of lights into audience members’ eyes, a modern practice this critic abhors.
Shakespeare’s tragedy is in here somewhere. Buckley duets are used effectively, among them “All Flowers in Time (Bend Towards the Sun)” sung by the lovers, and “Forget Her,” sung by Benvolio and Romeo.
“The Last Goodbye”
WHERE: Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way (Balboa Park)
WHEN: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m.; Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m. through Nov. 3
INFO: 619-234-5623
WEB: theoldglobe.org
