Lady Montague Would Be Pleased...

Because in the "Romeo es Julia" RockOperetta that I went to on Sunday, she had a fairly large part compared to Shakespeare's script. Mrs. Montague also strode out onto the stage looking like a sorceress from He-Man. Her black hair was half up in rollers and she adorned a royal blue gown. Lady Capulet was her counterpart in a red gown with soft blonde hair.

It was a little strange to hear the play in Hungarian, although there were glowing orange subtitles above the stage.

Once I got used to looking up and down, then somewhat giving up on the subtitles, I noticed that the actor with the spiky silver mohawk and silver studded belt was not Mercutio, the infamous jokester, but in fact Benvolio, whose name means "good." Although both are buddies of Romeo and take the Montague side, Mercutio and Benvolio are different people. Was this intentional? It was the more subdued "Mercutio" who was made his dying speech cursing Verona. And it was the punky looking Benvolio who was to tell Romeo that Juliet was "dead." I couldn't help being bothered by this the whole time.

The music was fast, the set was gothic, the dancing was almost too juvenile, and the play itself seemed to move really quickly too. In some scenes, this was a good thing, as Romeo and Juliet can both be too flowery with their sweeping professions of love.

At the end, the cast bowed and bowed and bowed maybe 8 separate times in total. The curtain went down, then came up, they bowed again, and the Hungarians continued to clap. I clapped along with them *clap* pause *clap* pause *clap* pause in the Hungarian way and then I had to stop after the sixth or seventh bow because my hands were beginning to feel as though they were vibrating.

It was helpful to see a play that I already knew in Hungarian as to make comparisons and keep my mind sharp on Shakespeare's famous tragedy. Also, it was nice when I understood clips of Hungarian here and there.

Other disappointments included the lack of a sword fight, seeming ketchup stains on Mercutio's shirt, and Romeo hanging himself (actually, I wish he would have hanged himself in the beginning because he wasn't entirely convincing).