{"id":26433,"date":"2025-07-14T12:24:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.berkshirelinks.com\/?p=26433"},"modified":"2025-07-14T12:24:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:24:22","slug":"romeo-juliet-and-the-boston-symphony-orchestra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/romeo-juliet-and-the-boston-symphony-orchestra\/","title":{"rendered":"Romeo, Juliet, and the BSO, July 11, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Romeo,
Romeo, Juliet, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, July 11, 2025: Hilary Scott photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Dave Read<\/a>, July 11, 2025 performance – And now for something entirely different! Romeo and Juliet: A Theatrical Concert for Orchestra<\/em> was on the bill tonight at Tanglewood’s Koussevitsky Music Shed<\/strong>, where the enthusiastic reaction from the audience indicates it was a big hit. BSO music director Andris Nelsons<\/strong> conducted the orchestra, Bill Barclay<\/strong> adapted and directed the theatrics. <\/p>\n

\"Romeo,
Romeo, Juliet, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, July 11, 2025: Hilary Scott photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the core of the program was Romeo & Juliet, Opus 64<\/em>, a ballet composed by Sergei Prokofiev<\/strong>, during the years when Stalin<\/strong> interfered with the arts in Russia<\/strong> the way a fugitive from justice does here. <\/p>\n

This was amusing, light entertainment; with Shakespeare’s<\/strong> text reduced to the essential action of the doomed love story. Most of the best-known lines were kept, but heard only with some difficulty, partly due to acoustics but mostly because the actors employed a more conversational tone than a declamatory one, which I feel would have suited the setting better. <\/p>\n

\"Romeo,
Romeo, Juliet, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sword play for Lawn Nation: Hilary Scott photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The theatrical part, itself, was a component of the very big, bright, orchestral conversation. I would think, therefore, that the spoken, textual parts should be leaned into as if they were instrumental solos – so that it plays like a theatrical concerto.<\/p>\n

The program notes mention that the unhappy ending of Shakespeare’s play made it unacceptable to the dictates of “Soviet Realism,” where every ending must be a happy one. Informed the censors wouldn’t approve the Bard’s scenario, a determined Prokofiev responded by having Romeo appear a minute before Juliet’s demise, saying “Living people can dance, but the dead cannot dance lying down.”<\/p>\n

Although we’re living under another terrible reign, one unfazed by death, whether in Gaza, Ukraine, or Texas, neither lover died tonight, even though both swallowed poison!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dave Read, July 11, 2025 performance – And now for something entirely different! Romeo and Juliet: A Theatrical Concert for Orchestra was on the bill tonight at Tanglewood’s Koussevitsky Music Shed, where the enthusiastic reaction from the audience indicates it was a big hit. BSO music director Andris Nelsons conducted the orchestra, Bill Barclay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-tanglewood-3","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}