Roméo et Juliette (musical)


Roméo et Juliette: de la Haine à l'Amour is a French musical based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, with music and lyrics by Gérard Presgurvic. It premiered in Paris on January 19, 2001. The production was directed and choreographed by Redha, with costumes by Dominique Borg and settings by Petrika Ionesco. The producers were Gérard Louvin, GLEM, and Universal Music.
Since then, the musical has been performed in Verona, Rome, Canada, Antwerp, London, Amsterdam, Budapest, Szeged, Moscow, Vienna, Bucharest, Seoul, Pusan, Taipei, Monterrey, Japan, Hong Kong, and Shanghai and has been translated into several languages, including Dutch, Italian, Hungarian, Russian, English, German, Spanish, Romanian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Slovak.

Plot

Differences from Shakespeare's plot include that the nature of the lovers' deaths is different, depending on the production. New characters such as Death and the Poet appear for dramatic effect. Lady Capulet has a greatly increased role and in the case of the Hungarian version, has an affair with her servant. The role of Tybalt has changed slightly from being purely dark to a more pitiful character because of his growing up with the hate and a dark childhood, as well as an unrequited attraction to Juliet.

Synopsis

;Act 1
A long-standing feud between the two leading families of the city of Verona, the Montagues and the Capulets, regularly erupts into violence on the city's streets. Irritated, the Prince of Verona decrees, on pain of death, the absolute prohibition on fighting in the city. While Lady Capulet and Lady Montague denounce the violence of the two clans, Romeo and Juliet are hopelessly in search for love.
At the Capulets, a ball is being held so that Juliet can meet Count Paris, who asked Lord Capulet for her hand. In Verona, Romeo and his friends, Benvolio and Mercutio, hang about the streets. Romeo is afraid of... he doesn't really know, but he's afraid. In the hope of distracting him, Benvolio and Mercutio, persuade him to accompany them, in disguise, to a ball being held at the house of the Capulets. At his first sight of Juliet, the daughter of the Capulets, Romeo instantly falls in love with her, without knowing who she is. Tybalt recognize Romeo and informs Juliet's parents. Romeo and Juliet learn from the Nurse who they are. Tybalt, broken, acknowledges that he is the son of hate and contempt.
After the ball, Juliet takes refuge in her room and dreams of Romeo, who woos her at great personal risk in the Capulets' garden. They exchange lovers' vows and plan to marry in secret as soon as possible. Knowing that their families will never agree to their marriage, Romeo meets Friar Lawrence and asks him to marry them. He accepts hoping that this union will reconcile the two families.
In the morning, Romeo meets his friends and tells the Nurse, whom everyone makes fun of, that Friar Lawrence will marry them the following afternoon. The Nurse, who deeply loves Juliet as her own daughter, announces the good news to Juliet. Finally, Romeo and Juliet are married.
;Act 2
The next day, Benvolio and Mercutio meet Romeo: they accuse him of betrayal. Out on the streets of Verona, Tybalt - unaware of his new blood tie to Romeo - searches for Romeo and when he finds him, challenges him to a fight, which Romeo refuses. Mercutio takes up the challenge and is mortally wounded. Driven by guilt, grief, and youthful-hotheadedness, Romeo kills Tybalt. The two families, plunged into mourning, ask the Prince for revenge. Finally, he banishes Romeo from Verona and thinks about the political power. In her bedroom, Juliet learns the bad news from the Nurse. She is torn between the love for her cousin and for her husband. Romeo goes to Friar Lawrence's. He thinks banishment is worse than death.
Romeo and Juliet spend their wedding night together and Romeo makes his escape to Mantua. Shortly after her husband has left, Juliet is informed by her parents that she is to be married to Paris. She refuses and they threaten to disown her. Upset, Lord Capulet sings about the love he has for his daughter. In her room, Juliet asks why she has to obey. In Mantua, Romeo thinks of Juliet. In desperation, she turns to Friar Lawrence, who devises an ingenious plan, which he hopes will ultimately bring a happy ending for both the lovers and their two families.
Juliet appears to go along with the marriage plans but, in the night before the wedding, she takes the drug prepared by Friar Lawrence which makes her appear dead. Juliet is duly laid in the family vault, hoping to wake up to find Romeo waiting for her. Unfortunately, The Friar's message telling Romeo of the plan somehow goes astray, and instead he hears only from Benvolio that his wife Juliet is dead.
Grief-stricken, he breaks into the Capulet vault, finds what he believes to be the mortal remains of his beloved, and takes poison to be reunited with her in death. Soon afterwards, Juliet awakes to find her husband dead and she stabs herself with Romeo's dagger. Friar Lawrence enters the vault and finds the two lovers dead. He complains to God. When the whole story is told, the two devastated families agree henceforward to live in peace.

Songs

;Act I
;Act II
Notes :
- "La folie" and "Pourquoi" were sung until Jun. 27, 2001. They can be found on the L'Integrale recording and the second disc of some DVD recordings.
- "Sans elle" is sung only by Roméo on the cast recording, but by Roméo and Juliette during the show

- Curtain calls were "Aimer", and "Les rois du monde"

Original French Cast

Productions of the musical have included the following:

Characters

Costume designs in the various productions are influenced by local renaissance costume traditions.
Below are descriptions of differences among productions in the treatment of the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.