Fabulous Romeo & Juliet at Paly Around Town, posted by JForte, a resident of the Evergreen Park neighborhood, on Nov 10, 2006 at 12:17 am
If you're looking for some solid entertainment the next two weekends, I recommend the production of Romeo & Juliet at Paly's Haymarket Theatre. I just came back from the opening night performance, and I was really impressed with the quality of the show.
The cast is excellent, with some outstanding lead performances. The fight scenes are terrific-- kudos to the choreographer and the actors who really make them work. And the whole concept overall nicely updates the classic in fresh and surprising ways.
Treat yourself with an outing to see some fine young actors at their best...
Posted by Theater Mom, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on Nov 12, 2006 at 10:12 am
The fight scenes were particularly realistic. The audience gasped as actors struggled, tumbled, punched, kicked and stabbed on stage. This is a great show with talented students in both the performance and technical areas. The remaining shows are Thu Nov 16 at 4 p.m., Fri and Sat Nov 17 & 18 at 8 p.m. Tickets $7/adults, $5/students, available at the door.
Posted by More Violence?, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on Nov 13, 2006 at 10:32 am
>The audience gasped as actors struggled, tumbled, punched, kicked and stabbed...
Oh goody! now we don't have to go to the movies for violence. We can gasp right at home. Sure, there is some violence in the original but our kids have so much experience with movie and TV and video game violence, who needs more? There are better ways to judge good acting.
Posted by Professorville Mom, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Nov 14, 2006 at 9:25 am
Hey, I won't even let a videogame box in my house, and my son was a social pariah for a while because I wouldn't let him see the Matrix, because I hate media violence, but I have to second the commendation of the stage fighting in this show. It was a well-choreographed dance; stage combat is tricky, timing is crucial, and it takes a huge amount of practice to do it believably and safely; these kids pulled it off better than a lot of professionals. So many big and small moments were happening in these fight scenes, I'd like to see each about 10 times to catch every nuance of this particular ballet. And because it was so well done and believable, the moment where the fight freezes and then Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo's arm was a heart-stopper.
At it's core, R&J is a violent play, but not gratuitously; it is about senseless deaths, and foolish hatreds; something worth getting kids to think about these days....
Posted by David Cohen, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 17, 2006 at 11:04 pm
I'd like to offer my compliments to Kristen Lo and all of the students! Very smooth and well acted, bringing intensity without overreaching, an excellent production all around. As for the question of violence, I'm a bit disappointed that such a timeless and culturally relevant classic would be lumped in with typical TV/movie/video game violence. In R&J, each fight and each killing is followed by regret, disapproval, punishment and/or consequences. Shakespeare also shows what a trap it is to react violently. It's not like so many TV shows and movies where people can just walk away from their actions, or video games, where death is a joke, or at worst, a prompt to "Play Again." In the final analysis, the play shows the terrible cost of senseless violence, and the painful recognition of that fact by those who enabled it. Quite worth seeing and talking about!
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