Romeo and Juliet

Reviewed by Emma Gift

(Editor’s note:) Theatre critics, for a very good reason, unfortunately, have to ignore High School theatre. The exciting but over whelming on-going professional and community theatre schedule consistently demands attention. Creativity tickles creative thought. Why not ask a student to review their high school plays?

The cast of Littleton High School’s production of Romeo and Juliet.

It is with great pleasure I introduce Emma Gift to Colorado Backstage as a theatre reviewer for Littleton High School. I have known Emma for four years while working with her older sister, Nora, who also has written a couple of reviews for Colorado Backstage. A sophomore at LHS, Emma sings in the Concert Choir, and is a member of the Key Club, a community service club. She sang with the Colorado Children’s Chorale for seven years from second to eighth grade. She’s in Kryssi Martin’s acting class, and loves performing.

My instruction to Emma was simple: write about what you see, be honest, and write from your heart. Although the run was short by necessity, Emma attended last Wednesday’s dress rehearsal. Romeo and Juliet played this weekend. From the sound of Emma’s enthusiasm, it is a shame it isn’t running for at least one more. She wrote it encouraging people to go. I decided to leave it just as she wrote it, which will only serve as a tease. After reading her thoughts, theatre lovers will want to make reservations. Infectious enthusiasm communicates, which is exactly what Emma delivers. — Holly

Littleton High School’s fall production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Kryssi Wyckoff Martin, is a truly stunning and wickedly creative piece of art. Even though it is set in 1985, the original dialogue written by William Shakespeare has NOT been changed at all. This definitely adds to the feel and authenticity of the play. It is playing Thursday, October 25, 2007 and Friday, October 26, 2007 at 7:00 pm and also on Saturday, October 27, 2007 at 6:00 pm at Littleton High School; tickets are $5.00 and can be purchased at the door. Don’t be late! You do not want to miss the unique execution of the prologue to this play as it is designed to be a classic 80s style music video, choreographed by Littleton High School students Eric Pung and Kaylen Higgins, and the words are sung to the song Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), you get hooked right away.

The 80s inspired props (chief – Clare Rudman), costumes (chief – Alison Banowksy, co-chief – Eric Pung), sound (chief – Ben Goldstone), set design/construction (chief – John Kron), lights (chief – Hailey Nelson) and makeup (chief – Javonna Ariggianna) alone make the play worth going to. Although you probably think you know the story of Romeo and Juliet, while watching this, you’ll never know what is going to happen next because of the mind blowing work this crew has put into making this show fabulous.

After the prologue, you meet Sampson (played by Eric Pung), Gregory (played by Keith Boos), and after a while, the fiery and bold Tybalt (played by Jeff Garland) joins them in his usual state of rage and anger that clarifies the hostility between the two parties. These three characters are Capulets and because of that, dress in 80s punk style. They are soon met by Abraham (played by Michael Houle Von Behren) and Balthasar (played by Sam Katz) from the house of Montague and as a result, dress in a somewhat “Miami Vice” manner (i.e. white linen suits, etc.) As you might have heard, they do not get along and break out into some serious combat. For the most part, the combat looks genuinely real and is definitely intense, as they sword fight 80s style with crow bars and threatens with pocket daggers.

Benvolio is played (beautifully) by a girl (Kaylen Higgins) because Martin thought that a she would portray the part just as well, if not better, than any boy (and she was right!). The Prince (played by Elliot Luke), followed by Lady and Lord Montague (played by Lilli Hokama and Michael Phelps) and Capulet (played by Teale Peck and Ben Lee) interrupt the brawl for good. Peck, Lee, Phelps and Hokama did a magnificent job being middle-aged people and I didn’t see a teenager in any one of them. Sam Golden brilliantly grasps the character of Romeo and has instant and deep chemistry with every person he interacts with on stage. This large amount of time includes Mercutio (played by Doron Burks) who plays just the right balance of quirky, funny, and serious.

Suddenly, we switch scenes and go to the house of Capulet where we find the Nurse (played by Maggie Slack). Slack embraced the balance of humor and drama within her character very well. Juliet (played by Ana Bell) emerges from the darkness decked out in her 80s punk gear. Bell projects the character of Juliet very well as the spry, adolescent, and independent girl that everyone wants to be. Although her dialogue was a bit rushed at times, it was done well and she did a great job with such a complicated role. Her mother comes into the room and announces to Juliet that it would be a very good idea if she married Paris, (played by Luke Klein) a young and clueless boy who just goes with the flow, and in a very cute way. Juliet refuses and Lady Capulet reluctantly accepts it and leaves to get ready for the party they’re hosting that night.

Later, the whole Montague clan goes to the bash at the Capulet’s house in a desperate attempt to find Romeo a girl. This is done very cleverly by Martin. The blocking was creative and unusual. The eye was drawn from place to place without distracting the audience from the main story. Out of the abyss, Romeo and Juliet find each other and immediately fall in love, and the audience does as well. From there, they secretly get married by Friar Lawrence (played by Cody Ullrich). Ullrich is wonderful as he plays an old man better than any other teenager could have dreamed to. The famous fight scene where both Tybalt and Mercutio end up being killed ensues. This scene had me on the edge of my seat from the moment Mercutio and Tybalt saw each other to the mournful sobs of everyone around them at the end. By this point I was more than impressed by everyone’s skill and the phenomenal carrying out of the emotions. Whether they were sad, mad, or full of regret, the audience felt whatever the actors were feeling at all times throughout the play.

When Juliet hears the bad news, she is crushed. Her love for Romeo does not fade one bit, even though he is exiled to a town called Mantua. However, her love for her parents DOES fade because they are now ordering her to marry Paris, but Juliet is already married and infuriated by this. Her father is angry as well at her refusal and although this scene was a little prolonged by him, Ben Lee was great. As he scolded Ana, for a second I believed they were actually father and daughter having a fight.

In a state of panic, Juliet goes to the Friar and asks for help. He gives her a drink that will make her unconscious for at least 42 hours, creating the illusion to everyone that she is dead. When she is buried with Tybalt, Juliet will leave and go live with Romeo in Mantua. The Friar gives a letter (explaining all of this to Romeo) to Friar John (played by Tandy Larson). However, the letter is not delivered leading Romeo to believe that Juliet is actually dead, he is evidently devastated and goes to the cemetery where Juliet lies and finds Paris on the way and kills him out of jealous rage.

Soon after, he kills himself out of pure sorrow and loss of his one true love. This scene was particularly intense because it created a mournful feeling throughout the theatre, especially when Juliet stabbed herself. I was very impressed.

A tremendous amount of work has gone into this play and it definitely shows. The actors seemed like they were more than comfortable with the Shakespearean dialogue and it created the illusion that they talked like that in their everyday lives. I was hooked from the moment two of the characters walked down the aisles of the theatre, in the prologue, to the last brilliant lighting of the black silhouettes against the blue background. Many people have seen and loved the many classic Romeo and Juliet plays, the 90s remake with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, and of course West Side Story. But never has it been done like this and I was just as involved and intrigued by this particular production as well as the classic, 90s remake, and West Side Story.

The beautiful juxtaposition of Romeo and Juliet as such opposite sides of society in 1985 was very well done and could not have been as effective without the people who were involved. The quirky side characters such as the servant with the fauxhawk (played by Ali Follett), Peter (played by Connor Jones), Mercutio’s Page (played by Forrest Rose), and others gave spice to the play as well.

Another aspect of this play I loved was that even though it seems so hard to do Shakespeare’s work any justice in the present day, the actors, crew, directors, and stage managers made it look easy to put together a production like this one. This makes it much more apparent that Littleton High School simply oozes with talent for the simple fact that they can even pull something like this off, much less make it so professional.

Many of the students acting in this play involved themselves in more than just one aspect of this production. Eric Pung, who acted out the part of Sampson, also designed the program artwork for the show, choreographed the combat and the prologue, and was the co-chief of the costume crew. Michael Phelps, who played the part of Lord Montague, ran the box office, worked on the construction crew, and worked on the lights crew. Kaylen Higgins played the part of Benvolio, choreographed the prologue also, and worked on the construction crew. John Kron, a teacher at Littleton High School worked as the dramaturge, and worked on the light and set design of Romeo and Juliet.

Kryssi Wyckoff Martin teaches many classes at Littleton High School and did an amazing job with the direction of this show. In addition to directing she worked on light design and even went on stage when one of her actors came down with strep throat, took her place and made a valiant effort to sing at the top of her lungs to save the showÉ(she definitely succeeded!)

The effort of all of the students working on this play deserves it’s own reward as they did nothing but rehearse, perfect, and rehearse some more. I know it was a stressful time for everyone but let me be one to say that it for sure paid off in the long run. All of the productions at Littleton High School are outstanding, speaking from seeing The Laramie Project last year, which brought me to tears, Urinetown which brought me to tears from sheer laughter, and Tickle Me Feiffer, which was also very well done. This one was absolutely a great show and I certainly recommend that you go see it.

The lighting was especially good because it situated the vibe and the setting of the play. The colors correlated with the mood and what everyone was doing. What I loved most about Romeo and Juliet was that I didn’t feel like I was watching a play, I felt like I was watching something happen in real life 20 years ago. Besides the fact that they were using Shakespearean dialogue.

For so many re-makes of Romeo and Juliet being done, this one is for sure one of my favorites. Partly because I was interested and intrigued the whole time, and partly because it was so much fun to watch. I truly was surprised at the result of what this play turned out to be. After hearing some of the stress in the hall, and around school, I didn’t expect it to be as creative and entertaining as it was. I expected it to be good because of the shows I’ve seen before, but I was more than pleasantly surprised.

All together, Romeo and Juliet is a definite must see as far as high school productions go. The performance and attention to detail was very well executed by everyone involved. I think that if you want to see a safe and predictable Romeo and Juliet, this is not the show for you because it was beyond doubt, one of the most fun and intriguing stage productions of Romeo and Juliet I’ve seen. This show is a truly surprising performance and you will not be disappointed.