Spoiler alert: Romeo and Juliette die at the end of their tortured love story.
Hey, that’s how it has ended ever since 1597, when the Bard penned the tragic story of star-crossed teen lovers caught in the middle of their families’ long-held grudge match. And that’s how it ended in Arizona Opera’s production of Gounod’s “Roméo & Juliette” on Saturday, March 9.
But the way that they died on the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall stage was breathtaking.
Tenor Terrence Chin-Loy‘s Romeo did not go gentle into that good night; he wailed at the high end of his range in agony, not from the poison he had swallowed but from the idea of not spending a lifetime with the love of his life.
Lyric soprano Jacqueline Echols‘ Juliette took dying to a whole other level of anguish, her voice soaring to the highest octave of her gorgeous range just before she plunged the switchblade into her stomach, falling to the ground and crawling toward her dying lover’s outstretched hand.
It was some powerful stuff that came at the end of Arizona Opera’s innovative new production.
Director Patricia Racette set the story in 1960s Verona and made good use of Arizona Opera’s state-of-the-art LED video wall to not only create the sets — everything from the Capulets’ palace and Juliette’s bedroom to the courtyard where Romeo serenaded Juliette — but also to give the audience a sense of place, from the dark clouds outside the palace walls to the city streets of Verona, all cast in the foreboding shadows of pending tragedy.
Racette opened “Roméo & Juliette” with a chorus dressed in black and shrouded in shadows on a stage with just enough light to make out the bodies. It looked a little like that scene from the movie “Ghosts” where the demons return to take the soul of Sam’s killer.
She used lighting effects to create moods and move along action or freeze action by shining a light only on a single character and having the others on stage remain statue still. Between the lighting and video technology, we felt like what we were watching unfold was far bigger than the Music Hall stage.
Back to the two lovebirds.
Chin-Loy, an alumnus of the Marion Roose Pullin Arizona Opera Studio program making his fourth lead role appearance with the company, turned in a powerful vocal performance. We have seen his range in his earlier work with Arizona Opera, but as Romeo, his lyric tenor was rich with emotion and expression.
This was our first time hearing Echols and we hope it’s not our last. We get goosebumps thinking about her glorious coloratura runs when she sang Gounod’s acrobatic vocal workout of an aria, “Je veux vivre.” Her duets, including that final death scene with Chin-Loy, were breathtaking.
Matthew Anchel, who we first met on an Arizona stage in last year’s “The Magic Flute,” showcased a powerfully deep and resonant bass as Friar Laurent while baritone Yazid Gray shined in his Arizona debut as Romeo’s BFF Mercutio.
The orchestra, under the baton of Conductor Stephanie Rhodes Russell making her Arizona Opera debut, was terrific, as were the Roose Pullin studio artists — bass-baritone Peter Barber, tenor Brad Bickhardt and mezzo-soprano Lauren Cook.
Catch the 2024 studio artists class at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave., at 2 p.m. March 24 for the Pullin Studio Cabaret concert. For tickets and details, visit azopera.org.
