IU opera produces another success

"Così Fan Tutte" was such an impressive starter that it gave me high expectations for this opera season, but Friday's performance of Charles Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" raised those expectations even further. Not only was the opera well-chosen for its excellent music, but every aspect of this performance was well-executed enough to create another world on the stage and draw the viewer into it.\nThe story is Shakespeare's play with some abridgements made for the sake of time (a merciful decision by Gounod, since the opera is 3 hours and 15 minutes long as is), so everybody is familiar with the story. Two decisions by the production staff with respect to the plot gave this performance its success: keeping the setting in Renaissance Italy and keeping the libretto in the original French.\nKeeping the setting true to Shakespeare in Renaissance Italy allowed the set and costume crew to show their true talents as designers. "Modernization" (like in the recent film) would only allow for drab sets and unimaginative costumes. The setting used in the opera had all the symmetry and elegance of Renaissance buildings and consisted of a remarkably versatile basic design, used for all scenes. The costumes were the true highlight of the performance, however. While remaining true to Renaissance fashion, the costume shop used a wide array of colors, designs and accessories to build an intricate and varied wardrobe. The most impressive costumes were those of the Prince of Verona and Lord and Lady Capulet, which accurately portrayed the sort of luxury that Renaissance wealth could buy. Lord Capulet's costume changed in different scenes, a nice detail supplied with extra effort, time and money.\nKeeping the libretto in French not only kept the singing in tune with the elegance of the music, but also showed some subtle differences between Gounod's text and Shakespeare's. The translation in the supertitles was largely drawn verbatim from Shakespeare, but anyone with a working knowledge of French could hear that what was sung differed slightly from the translation. (For example, Mercutio's line "a plague on both your houses" was sung "the devil take both your houses").\nIt should go without saying that the quality of the vocalists and orchestra was outstanding. Singing in French also allowed the vocalists to demonstrate their true talent. French operatic singing is very subtle and requires precise enunciation of words, which the cast was very skilled at doing while still creating a powerful emotional atmosphere.\nThe orchestra, under David Effron's baton, was the primary conveyor of emotion and did a wonderful job of bringing out the on-stage emotions even more. They did so well, in fact, that it was often easy to not notice the music until after it had ended.\nIn the stage action, there were some inaccuracies and errors -- for example, Friar Lawrence wore a rosary as a necklace (any Catholic knows this is a no-no) and Stephano dropped his/her sword mid-aria. These errors can hopefully be corrected, though, with little effort.\n"Roméo et Juliette" remains a highly recommended performance for those who want a new, more elevated angle on the familiar Shakespeare play and to lose themselves in another world constructed by music.