Rachel Zegler & Kit Connor-led ROMEO + JULIET Previews — Page 3

Imma be honest but the more AKarp2013 talks about the production the better it sounds.

One user on Reddit (ukulelefella) said they only enjoyed about 20% of the show because:

"However because 80% was basically a stage play of Shakespear’s Romeo and Juliet with minimal diversions, it wasn’t as enjoyable and I slapped myself away 2-3 times, but stayed awake "

They seemed disappointed that the production uses the Shakespeare text instead of updating everything. 🙄

"Much more helpful than simply writing "it's bad" like so many."

Agreed, yea. I really appreciate the description! I don't know why people comment negatively without explanation.

My thoughts on this almost exactly mirror those of AKarp. I found this embarrassingly bad, almost entirely because of the direction, which lacks both a consistent conceit and dramaturgical intent. It often felt like a middle aged man desperately trying to appeal to Gen Z and then at other times it is a boring, poorly staged adaptation of the original play. The choreo, costumes, use of music, and staging are messy and confusing at best and laughable at worst. I found myself rolling my eyes or having to hold back laughs at attempts to either make it super edgy or super relatable. It fails at both. At times certain choices feel almost directly lifted from the original Spring Awakening production. The doubling of actors is confusing and misguided. Although Sola Fadiran is talented, having him play both Capulet and Lady Capulet becomes very muddy. The show also frequently breaks the 4th wall, which is an attempt to be cute but often utterly takes away from the weight and beauty of Shakespeare's text.

Some of the acting is good - Kit Connor and Gabby Beans are the standouts, although Gabby is given the task of sort of narrating the show in a certain way and that didn't quite work for me. But it's not her fault. Zegler is good - and I suspect she'll get better over time. She gets a song, and her vocals are strong, but the song is turgid and awful.

I also absolutely hated the moment towards the end when the actor speaks to the musician and had the audience sing We Are Young. Cringe, cringe, cringe.

There is a version of this that could've worked. Updating R&J for a modern audience makes perfect sense. It's worked in various other iterations. This, however, is a disaster.

chrishuyen said: "Is the last bit of trying to get the audience to sing along reminiscent of the final chorus in the recent revival of Oklahoma?"

Not even close. I'll give you the exact dialogue exchange they had that led into to the sing-a-long because it's resting in the front of my mind. Again it's between the actor playing Paris and the Music Director, named Sarah, shortly after Paris is told that Juliet is dead:

PARIS: Sarah, might thee play us some music?

SARAH: 'Tis not an appropriate time to play music.

PARIS: If you don't f**king play some music, Imma fight you. (begins singing) Tonight... we are young!

And I breathed a heavy sigh...

Updated On: 9/27/24 at 01:49 PM

AKarp2013 said: "The Balcony scene is without a doubt the strongest part of the show. Partly because there are no strange, confounding distractions and over-the-top jokiness; mostly because of Connor's captivating performance (including lovely moments of genuine emotion, heartfelt humor, and impressive physical movement on his part). Again, I cannot stress enough how much I loved his performance.

Essentially, when the focus was on Connor and Zegler in their scenes together, there were glimpses of what could have been great theatre. But it was everything going on around them that was a chore to sit through."

Couldn't agree more with the above^^! The balcony scene and any moments with just Kit and Rachel on stage were by far the most captivating and exciting an audience member. And not because they're the big stars.

I'm someone who had a great time at the show last night and fits a lot of the descriptions this board is talking about (Gen Z, huge fan of Zegler), but I feel that everything AKarp is saying makes sense and is true to my experience too. Just had a slightly (😜) different reaction because of aforementioned aspects of my motivation for seeing the show.

I'm very intrigued to see if/how things change in previews!

Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler Have Stage Door Bash for 'Romeo + Juliet' Broadway

https://people.com/kit-connor-rachel-zegler-romeo-juliet-broadway-stage-door-bash-exclusive-8719119

Connor/Zegler scheduled for Fallon tonight.

The part of the show i am most interested in is the Jack Antonoff music. How effectively is it used? Is the show scored well?

AKarp2013 said: "Some more thoughts (it's tough because I want so desperately to forget what I saw last night). For what it's worth, it was a full housebut a good chunk of seats were left empty upon return for Act Two.

It was tough to gauge exactly what the audience's reception was last night. I'd say the vast majority of the crowd were Rachel Zegler fans who were hooting, hollering, shouting, and laughing throughout as though it were a parody production (no disrespect to parody productions). This was Act One only, however. Act Two is a different story. During the second act, everyone seemed bored -- checking the time, fidgeting, twisting in their seats, etc.

This, I would say, is attributed to Gold's bizarre and inconsistent tonal shift.Act One is filled with club music, played for (way too many) laughs, and felt like a string of TikTok's stitched together. Act Two is where Gold decides to turn serious with a pathetically desperate attempt at being dark. At many times, it felt as though he had no idea what to do with the cast so he had them do literally anything to make them noticeable -- lying down around the stage at awkward times, holding up the bed as Romeo and Juliet have their intimate moments, peering from the foot of the stage watching the action unfold.

The moment that made me cringe, roll my eyes, and want to scream the most was immediately following Juliet's death scene where Gold has the character of Paris have a comedic banter with the DJ/music director, attempting to have her play upbeat music, and when she refuses, hegetsthe audience to sing/clap to "We Are Young" by fun. before storming off the stage as though he were having a temper tantrum.I wanted so desperately to walk out then and there but I was determinedto see this abomination through to the end."

If it was truly the “abomination” that you describe, there was absolutely zero reason for you to have to suffer through to the bitter end, except for bragging rights on an internet website. My time is more valuable than that, but you do you.

worth it

MemorableUserName said: "Matt Rogers today in the Sunset Blvd. preview thread:

"Too bad they don’t have a bitch tab to hide general bitchiness. Oh, wait. If they had that, the entire board would be blank."

Matt Rogers today in this thread:

"If it was truly the “abomination” that you describe, there was absolutely zero reason for you to have to suffer through to the bitter end,except for bragging rights on an internet website. My time is more valuable than that, but you do you."



At least he can't be accused of not knowing what he's talking about. Pot, kettle, etc."

That was not meant to be bitchy and if it was, the mods are free to delete it, obviously. I was just stating the obvious- if someone thinks a show is an “abomination” and sits there until the end, there was no reason for them to have done so except to have bragging rights on a Broadway website.