Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet has been the inspiration for many composers.
The most successful operatic version was composed by Gounod, who enlisted the help of Jules Barbier and Michel Carré to write the libretto. In Gounod's version, Roméo et Juliette, which premiered at the Theatre Lyrique in Paris in 1867, the young Roméo and Juliette fall in love, ignoring the fact that their families are involved in a bitter feud.

The original Broadway production of West Side Story, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, debuted in 1957 in New York City. The same societal issues central to Romeo and Juliet were depicted by the rivalry between two street gangs of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. West Side Story integrated dance, music, and drama to recreate this Shakespearean classic.
Opera Naples presents a montage of both.

Romeo & Juliet
Time: 14th century.
Place: Verona.

Having gone to Goethe for "Faust," Gounod’s librettists, Barbier and Carré, went to Shakespeare for "Roméo et Juliette," which, like "Faust," reached the Paris Grand Opéra by way of the Théâtre Lyrique. Mme. Miolan-Carvalho, the original Marguerite, also created Juliette.

"Roméo et Juliette" has been esteemed more highly in France than elsewhere. In America, save for performances in New Orleans, it was only during the Grau regime at the Metropolitan Opera House, when it was given in French with casts familiar with the traditions of the Grand Opéra, that it can be said regularly to have held a place in the repertoire. Eames is remembered as a singularly beautiful Juliette, vocally and personally; Capoul, Jean de Reszke,and Saleza, as Romeos, Edouard de Reszke as Frère Laurent.

Nicolini, who became Adelina Patti’s second husband, sang Roméo at the Grand Opéra to her Juliette. She was then the Marguerite de Caux, her marriage to the Marquis having been brought about by the Empress Eugénie. But that this marriage was not to last long, and that the Romeo and Juliet were as much in love with each other in actual life as on the stage, was revealed one night to a Grand Opéra audience, when, during the balcony scene, prima donna and tenor -- so the record says -- imprinted twenty-nine real kisses on each other’s lips.

The libretto is in five acts and follows closely, often even to the text, Shakespeare’s tragedy. There is a prologue in which the characters and chorus briefly rehearse the story that is to unfold itself.

Act I
The grand hall in the palace of the Capulets. A fête is in progress. The chorus sings gay measures. Tybalt speaks to Paris of Juliet, who at that moment appears with her father. Capulet bids the guests welcome and to be of good cheer -- "Soyez les bienvenus, amis" (Be ye welcome, friends), and "Allons! jeunes gens! Allons! belles dames!" (Bestir ye, young nobles! And ye, too, fair ladies!).

Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, and half-a-dozen followers come masked. Despite the deadly feud between the two houses, they, Montagues, have ventured to come as maskers to the fête of the Capulets. Mercutio sings of Queen Mab, a number as gossamerlike in the opera as the monologue is in the play; hardly ever sung as it should be, because the role of Mercutio rarely is assigned to a baritone capable of doing justice to the airy measures of "Mab, la reine des mensonges" (Mab, Queen Mab, the fairies’ widwife).

The Montagues withdraw to another part of the palace. Juliet returns with Gertrude, her nurse. Full of high spirits, she sings the graceful and animated waltz, "Dans ce reve, que m’enivre" (Fair is the tender dream of youth). The nurse is called away. Romeo, wandering in, meets Juliet. Their love, as in the play, is instantaneous. Romeo addresses her in passionate accents. "Ange adorable" (Angel! adored one). His addresses, Juliet’s replies, make a charming duo.

Upon the re-entry of Tyball, Romeo, who had removed his mask, again adjusts it. But Tybalt suspects who he is, and from the utterance of his suspicions, Juliet learns that the handsome youth, to whom her heart has gone out, is none other than Romeo, scion of the Montagues, the sworn enemies of her house. The fiery Tybalt is for attacking Romeo and his followers then and there. But old Capulet, respecting the laws of hospitality, orders that the fête proceed.

Act II
The garden of the Capulets. The window of Juliet’s apartment, and the balcony, upon which it gives. Romeo’s page, Stephano, a character introduced by the librettists, holds a ladder by which Romeo ascends to the balcony. Stephano leaves, bearing the ladder with him.

Romeo sings, "Ah! Lève-toi soleil" (Ah! fairest dawn arise). The window opens, Juliet comes out upon the balcony. Romeo conceal himself. From her soliloquy he learns that, although he is a Montague, she loves him. He discloses his presence. The interchange of pledges is exquisite. Lest the sweetness of so much love music become too cloying, the librettists interrupt it with an episode. The Capulet retainer, Gregory, and servants of the house, suspecting that an intruder is in the garden, for they have seen Stephano speeding away, search unsuccessfully and depart.

The nurse calls. Juliet re-enters her apartment. Romeo sings, "O nuit divine" (Oh, night divine). Juliet again steals out upon the balcony. "Ah! je te l’ai dit, je t’adore!" (Ah, I have told you that I adore you), sings Romeo. There is a beautiful duet, "Ah! Ne fuis pas encore!" (Ah, do not flee again). A brief farewell. The curtain falls upon the "balcony scene."

Act III
Part I. Friar Lawrence’s cell. Here takes place the wedding of Romeo and Juliet, the good friar hoping that their union may lead to peace between the two great Veronese houses of Montague and Capulet. There are in this part of the act Friar Lawrence’s prayer, "Dieu, qui à fis l’homme a ton image" (God, who made man in Thine image); a trio, in which the friar chants the rubric, and the pair respond; and an effective final quartet for Juliet, Gertrude, Romeo, and Friar Lawrence.

Part II. A street near Capulet’s house. Stephano, having vainly sought Romeo, and thinking he still may be in concealment in Capulet’s garden, sings a ditty likely to rouse the temper of the Capulet household, and bring its retainers into the street, thus affording Romeo a chance to get away. The ditty is "Que fais-tu, blanche turelle" (gentle dove, why art thou clinging?) -- Gregory and Stephano draw and fight. The scene develops, as in the play. Friends of the two rival houses appear. Mercutio fights Tybalt and is slain, and is avenged by Romeo, who kills Tybalt, Juliet’s kinsman, and, in consequence, is banished from Verona by the Duke.

Act IV
It is the room of Juliet, to which Romeo has found access, in order to bid her farewell, before he goes into exile. The lingering adieux, the impassioned accents in which the despair of parting is expressed -- these find eloquent utterance in the music. There is the duet, "Nuit d’hyménée, ô douce nuit d’amour" (Night hymeneal, sweetest night of love). Romeo hears the lark, sure sign of approaching day, but Juliet protests. "Non, non, ce n’est pas le jour" (No, no! 'Tis not yet the day). Yet the parting time cannot be put off longer. Romeo: "Ah! reste! reste encore dans mes bras enlaces" (Ah! rest! Rest once more within mine entwining arms); then both, "Il faut partir, hélas" (Now we must part, alas).

Hardly has Romeo gone when Gertrude runs in to warn Juliet that her father is approaching with Friar Lawrence. Tybalt’s dying wish, whispered into old Capulet’s ear, was that the marriage between Juliet and the noble whom Capulet has chosen for her husband, Count Paris, be speeded. Juliet’s father comes top bid her prepare for the marriage. Neither she, the friar, nor the nurse dare tell Capulet of her secret nuptials with Romeo. This gives significance to the quartet, "Ne crains rien" (I fear no more). Capulet withdraws, leaving, as he supposes, Friar Lawrence to explain to Juliet the details of the ceremony. It is then the friar, in the dramatic, "Buvez donc ce breuvage" (Drink then of this philtre), gives her the potion, upon drinking which she shall appear as dead.

The scene changes to the grand hall of the palace. Guests arrive for the nuptials. There is occasion for the ballet, so essential for a production at the Grand Opéra. Juliet drains the vial, falls as if dead.

Act V
The tomb of the Capulets. Romeo, having heard in his exile that his beloved is no more, breaks into the tomb. She, recovering from the effects of the philtre, finds him dying, plunges a dagger into her breast, and expires with him.

In the music there is an effective prelude. Romeo, on entering the tomb, sings, "O ma femme! ô ma bien aimée" (O wife, dearly beloved). Juliet, not yet aware that Romeo has taken poison, and Romeo forgetting for the moment that death’s cold hand already is reaching out for him, they sing, "Viens fuyons au bout du monde" (Come, let us fly to the ends of the earth). Then Romeo begins to feel the effect of the poison, and tells Juliet what he has done. "Console toi, pauvre ame" (Console thyself sad heart). But Juliet will not live without him, and while he in his wandering mind, hears the lark, as at their last parting, she stabs herself.

As "Roméo et Juliette" contains much beautiful music, people may wonder why it lags so far behind "Faust" in popularity. One reason is that, in the lay-out of the libretto the authors deliberately sought to furnish Gounod with another "Faust," and so challenged comparison. Even Stephano, a character of their creation, was intended to give the same balance to the cast that Siebel does to that of "Faust." In a performance of Shakespeare’s play it is possible to act the scene of parting without making it too much the dupication of the balcony scene which it appears to be in the opera. The "balcony scene" is an obvious attempt to create another "garden scene." But in "Faust," what would be the too long-drawn out sweetness of too much love music is overcome, in the most natural manner, by the brilliant "Jewel Song," and by Méphistophélès’s sinister invocation of the flowers. In "Roméo et Juliette," on the other hand, the interruption afforded by Gregory and the chorus is too artificial not to be merely disturbing.

It should be said again, however, that French audiences regard the work with far more favour than we do. "In France" says Storck, in his Opernbuch, "the work, perhaps not unjustly, is regarded as Gounod’s best achievement, and has correspondingly numerous performances."

West Side Story
Time: Mid 1950s
Place: New York City

The Broadway production opens with a danced Prologue indicating the bitter tensions between the Jets, a self-styled Americanstreet gang, and the Sharks, a group of young Puerto Ricans. Riff, the leader of the Jets, swears to drive the Sharks, led by Bernardo, from the streets (Jet Song). Riff challenges Bernardo that night at a dance in the gym, and prevails upon Tony, his old friend and the co-founder of the Jets to help him. Tony has been growing away from the gang, and feels the stirrings of other emotions (Something's Coming) but agrees.

Bernardo's sister Maria, newly arrived from Puerto Rico to marry his friend Chino, attends the dance (The Dance at the Gym). Despite the obvious hatred between the gangs, Maria meets Tony, who at once falls in love with her (Maria). Later, after the dance, while the gangs begin to assemble at Doc's drugstore to plan their rumble (a gang fight), Tony visits Maria on the fire escape of her apartment, and they pledge their love (Tonight), promising to meet the next afternoon at the bridal shop where Maria works. As he departs, the Sharks take their girls home and go off to the drugstore, while a playful argument develops between Anita and two homesick Puerto Rican girls over the relative merits of life back home and in Manhattan (America).

At the drugstore, the Jets are nervous about the approaching meeting with the Sharks, but Riff advises them to play it cool (Cool). When the Sharks arrive, an agreement is reached, at Tony's insistence, to have a fair, bare-handed fight between the best fighter from each gang the next night, under the highway.

Next day, Tony visits Maria at the shop and among the clothing dummies they enact a touching wedding ceremony (One Hand, One Heart). Maria makes him promise to stop the fight between his gang and her brother's. In the quintet Tonight, Tony and Maria sing of their love, Anita makes plans for a big evening, and Bernardo and Riff and their gangs make their own plans for the rumble.

In a deserted area under the highway, the gangs meet for the fight. As it is about to get under way, Tony hurries in, and begs them to stop, as he has promised Maria. Bernardo, enraged that Tony has been making advances to his sister, pushes him back furiously. Suddenly switch-blade knives appear, and Riff and Bernardo begin to fight (The Rumble). In the ensuing action, Riff is knifed, and Tony, grabbing his weapon, in turn knifes Bernardo. Frenzied, the gangs join battle, until they are interrupted by a police whistle. They flee, leaving behind the bodies of Riff and Bernardo.

In her room, Maria is gaily preparing for her meeting with Tony (I Feel Pretty). She is unaware of what has happened, until Chino bursts into her room and tells her that her brother has been killed by her lover. Seizing a gun, he rushes out in search of Tony.

Tony, however, has climbed the fire escape to Maria's room, and in spite of her grief she is unable to send him away. Clinging together desperately they envision a place where they can be free from prejudice (Somewhere There's A Place for Us).

In the streets and alleys the gangs flee the police, panic-stricken by the killings. Two of the Jets, Action and Snowboy, have already been questioned, and they explain to the rest of them how to handle the adults (Gee, Officer Krupke!).

The sorrowing Anita knocks at Maria's door, and Tony leaves by the window, taking refuge in the basement of Doc's drugstore. Anita upbraids Maria for allowing Tony to come near her (A Boy Like That), but Maria's answer (I Have a Love) carries its irrefutable force, and at length Anita agrees to go warn Tony that Chino is gunning for him. She goes to the drugstore, but is brutally taunted by the Jets for her nationality, and finally in hysteria spits out a different message for Tony: that Chino has killed Maria in revenge.

Doc tells Tony what Anita has said, and Tony leaves his hiding place, wandering numbly on the streets. At midnight, he runs into Maria, who has been searching for him, but their moment is brief: Chino appears from behind a building and shoots Tony dead.

The stunned members of the Jets and the Sharks gangs appear from the shadows and, drawn together by the tragedy, lift up the body of Tony and carry it off.


George Dale

Transcribed by Sally Chou

courtesy, Musicals.net

For more notes on Romeo & Juliet, try the link below: