#paraphrasing shakespeare ftw

[allatariel]

Now is the winter of our decongestant.

#sick #this cold season is going to be a shit show #wear a mask people #paraphrasing shakespeare ftw

[cto10121]

so as i am on an retj roll lately, i’ve decided to rewatch the italian version, this time with english subs just to make sure i don’t miss anything. going to hugo montenegro it once more because why not

the good:

vincenzo incenzo’s translation is ok overall with a couple of provisos: really don’t like the new io tremo (j’ai peur) for rosaline, of all things—it’s just too dramatic a song for love angst. even most of the lyrics resist it, with only minimal reference to rosaline. les beaux les laids is really lazily translated, though, and while some of the shakespearean paraphrase worked in l’amour heureux, for instance, other reworked songs trying to fit the shakespearean mold (par amour in particular) feel incomplete. there is also a overly sexual strain running through the lyrics, (did lady m just say she was turned on by lady c or...?) which is amusing since this is just above the takarazuka in the fluff au meter of retj adaptations

the scenery and costumes are nice, and the latter especially for the men. the only qualm i have about the costumes is that they were too smooth; they lacked an edge, particularly for the montague boys. mercutio looked more princely even than romeo and tybalt felt weighed down by his cape. the costumes for the m&c youths were disappointingly homogenized—there was not a sense of individual stories or even collective identities as in the other productions; it’s been a rule of thumb that the montagues are generally depicted as a wilder, rougher, or generally more modern crowd than the capulets, who are more feudal. i did not really get that here. there definitely needed to be a sense of tribalism and group identity: here the dancers are almost purely allegorical

some of the performers really were solid, italian capulet (frollo!! god, it’s so nice to see him again), the friar, and the prince. bless the prince in all his khal drogo glory. also lord capulet (frollo!!!)

the new revival songs are kept, le sigh, but they are decently translated and better integrated than in the revival. lady capulet’s new tu dois te marier does work much better as a soliloquy-monologue, i’ll give it that, and tybalt’s chi son io? is much more palatable than je suis tybalt

the verona reprise is nicely cinematic, although i still prefer the austrian.

paris’ ballet moves were really good at parts. actually trained dancer ftw

this is really just my bias, but this is the closest thing i’ll probably get to a (actually audible) spanish retj in awhile (*wipes away tear for portuguese retj*) so you can bet your bottom dollar that i appreciate the fact that i can understand 70-80% of this version’s lyrics and will sing them in my awful spanish accent at random intervals. i truly do

the bad:

the choreography ranged from ok to wtf even within songs. really did not like most of les rois du monde with the exception of mercutio’s verse, the bal was a weird, lackluster bird mascarade and les beaux, les laids, again, was a mess

some of the direction was disappointing too. l’amour heureux was nicely sung and even translated, but the staging was a distracting mess of whirlpools and sweeps—i guess trying to convey the swooping nature of first love? in any case it’s more distracting than anything else, and undermines the intensity of the first meeting. it needed more focus

ok, that’s it, i’m officially making #bringbacklamuette a thing. of all the productions that have cut her character, there is not one, not ONE, that has a decent transition to les beaux, les laids. hungarian had peter, which worked too, but i prefer a female maidservants because the nurse’s indignation over her teasing more naturally leads into lbll. here the shakespearean paraphrase was especially awful, awkwardly translated and confusing

speaking of which. the shakespearean paraphrase. ho boy. apart from the whole idea of injecting shakespeare’s early modern blank verse into a modern pop rock operetta, (@retjproductions pls stop) the execution was wildly uneven. the “if i profane with my unworthiest hand” sonnet courtship was not only unnecessary, since incenzo’s lyrics already incorporated the shakespeare paraphrase, but they were badly delivered. most of these actors are not trained in delivering early modern dialogue, even translated and simplified, so it’s just cringe all around. the teasing of the nurse was particularly atrocious, definitely inferior to the hungarian. mercutio’s “ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man” pun only works in english. the list goes on. the only lines that worked were probably the prince’s savage “mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill” and “for there never was a story of more woe.” the friar was also good at delivering the lines but the nurse, bless her, was the worst

which leads me to the heart of what makes the italian ultimately not work for me: the fact that it is really two different shows with two different types of lyrics and two different sets of characters, presgurvic’s and shakespeare’s. you have your meek peace-loving shakespeare!benvolio with your cheeky wine-women-and-so-long presgurvic!benvolio, your tortured soul!tybalt against your fight-everything!tybalt, your angsty-rock-star-gigolo!romeo with your sensitive boyish!romeo, dickwadpatriarch!capulet with cautiousandconflicted!capulet...it’s a mess. yes, presgurvic’s lyrics and book are inferior to shakespeare’s verse—so are sondheim’s lyrics and laurents’ libretto for west side story and cole porter’s for kiss me kate. they’re inferior in the sense that they are lyrics and dialogue for a modern musical targetted at modern audiences. there’s really nothing you could do about it—except to respect shakespeare enough to leave him out of this except as an inspiration.

re: the revival songs. mercutio’s la reine mab was cringy, more acted-shouted than anything else and la follia was just as bad. on prie was decent if simplified in translation, but overall why

the transitions were slow and transition music was all over the place: coupables for lord capulet’s rage at giulietta, the original ouverture music for r&g’s courtship sonnet scene, the opening with two family show-off for the juliette-est-morte scene...not necessarily bad, since the musical’s flow did zip by but eh

there are some productions (okay, just the hungarian really) that are complete enough so that you don’t miss la mort. this is not one of them. the hallucination ballet with the juliets was definitely a missed opportunity—a nice female death could have given romeo the poison, maybe even via mouth. that way there would be no “interference,” so to speak, of death in the lovers’ death

DRAMATIC POINTING. EVERYWHERE

and now the ugly:

the song order. damn, it’s wonky. let’s even put aside the on dit dans la rue fake-out in favor of le pouvoir as the opening act: the worst is still putting j’sais plus before the deaths. three hours, man, he had THREE hours, and he chooses to waste it on a faith crisis. talk about a gaping plot hole. it just undermines the tragedy, and it also robs the pang you feel when the families start filing in and discovering r&j’s bodies

speaking of undermining the tragedy, an emphatic NO on romeo seeing juliette waking up. juliette’s happiness at seeing romeo turning into a strained denial turning to a dawning horror (also french juliette’s RÉPONDS! just tears my heart) is worth a million leonardo di caprios. get that baz lurhmann shit out of my face

romeo being included in les beaux les laids and le duel from the start. emphatic NO. for one thing, he is totally superfluous and for another it totally ruins that awesome iconic “arrêTEZ” entrance to le duel.

but also on the on dit dans la rue fake-out: i actually LIKED the CD version, it was genuinely good, and had looked forward to seeing it performed. NOPE. one of the most interesting and fascinating changes to the shakespeare, so much so that every other production kept that angle—just gone.

the nurse and lady montague. i know, can’t be all réjane perry or carin flipcic or the badassery of eleanor beaulieu, but it was almost physically painful to see their caricaturish acting. i particularly resent making the poet’s song a duet between lady m and giulietta—even the takarazuka one is better

benvolio’s -.- faces throughout are actually golden and hilarious and very much #me, but still

speaking of which, benvolio’s comment lui dire was really underwhelming, mostly because of the blocking (all the moving around) and benvolio not being alone even though he explictly says he is...again, one of the collateral damages that come from mixing musical and shakespeare characterization

the lack of girls in les rois du monde and les beaux les laids and in other places and the removing of key dialogue for lady capulet before la vengeance (they just have her sob at capulet’s shoulder—not likely she would do this, as the capulets have a loveless marriage) borders on uncomfortable. i’m definitely not one for diversity quotas, but in retj the women and the female dancers’ participating in, criticizing, and aiding and abetting the feud is crucial. it contributes to the theme of the feud being everyone’s fault and everyone’s problem, verona’s problem. it lessens the feud’s impact and so weakens the forbidden charge to the lover’s love affair—this retj read more as a cute couple in love who just got really, really bad luck with a dickwad father and knife-happy friends. add in the removal of on dit dans la rue and the stakes are much lowered. also, musically speaking, it’s just much better to have a mixed chorus than just the guys, so there is a loss in quality as well

paris. i really must make a post about my own theory regarding paris’ varying characterizations, but in terms of this production, it is more or less clear what they were aiming towards: italian romeo is just too cute and wholesome, so how to make romeo look desirable by comparison? ergo: ballerina!paris. i get it. still. did they really have to include his death?? at least the hungarian had a cool le duel reprise. this on the other hand was so pointless.

in sum: this production felt as if the makers of the italian just watched the revival and said “GREAT but it def needs 90% more shakespeare and dramatic pointing” and then halfway through someone kindly informed them of the existence of the original, so they dutifully watched it, but really only liked the duo du desespoir staging and having mercutio in blue. and ok, le poète is a really nice melody, we’ll find some (worse) use for it

and then while they are talking about dialogue and song order, someone just stands up on the table and screams HUNGARIAN SONG ORDER OR GTFO and refuses to get down from the table until they agreed to at least switch out tybalt’s solos and include paris’ death. meanwhile poor incenzo is in the corner like “ok but guys do you want me to stick to presgurvic or shakespeare, i’m so confused” and they all reply “YES exactly thank you” and incenzo looks at the camera like in the office. me too incenzo me too

#romeo e giulietta #romeo et juliette #ama e cambia il mondo #cristina opines #it’s a wild ride #glad the italians liked it but #i am so confused by their direction #still probably better than the revival #have to rewatch that sometime #cristina reviews #retj