Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX
Of all the times I have visited these star-crossed lovers, this Metropolitan Opera version distances every performance I have ever seen; maybe a lifetime must disappear before perfection is granted, achieved. Sitting in the theatre, knowing the outcome, I found myself fervently praying that timing would fortuitously bless this couple, so worthy of togetherness, charmed liveliness, granted the grace to cure decades of warring animosity between families. Alas, my fantasy was brutally foiled, Romeo and Juliet evaporate, entombed forever, in Charles Gounod (1818-93) seminal opera.
Remarkable, palpable chemistry throbs between stars Nadine Sierra and Benjamin Bernheim; Shakespeare envisioned this pair while creating the tragic tale; flawless, almost frighteningly beautiful, demanding our total absorption throughout. Their gifted voices, in tandem with their characters, resonate with the innocence of nascent love; awakening in viewers the threads of memory when one loved like no one before or after, ever will; this stratospheric coupling blazingly grew with each duet and aria; elegant, elevating, ultimate satisfaction, gifting satiated pleasure.
Under the baton of the perpetually energized Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the supporting roles were significantly delineated by Will Liverman (“Mercutio”), Frederick Ballentine (“Tybalt”) and the awe-inspiring, towering staging of Bartlett Sher, added an elitism, nobility to the production.
Inauspiciously, “For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
FIVE STARS!!!!!
Peneflix
