Joffrey Cast Changes in ‘Romeo and Juliet’

The two Saturday Juliets each danced very skillfully indeed but otherwise differed enough that you might not have noticed any resemblance.

At the matinee, willowy Deborah Dawn took the character from girlish exuberance to tragic maturity, suggesting by her commanding gestural style in the Potion and Tomb scenes that Juliet had become ennobled through suffering.

At the evening performance, tiny Tina LeBlanc kept Juliet sweetly childlike, hauntingly vulnerable--and heartbreakingly overwhelmed by circumstance. LeBlanc had the advantage of strong partnering by her Romeo, Tom Mossbrucker (reviewed on F1). Their Balcony Scene, in particular, had an exhilarating physical and emotional surge as well as faultless technique.

Although Dawn found a detailed and involving rapport with Tyler Walters, his partnering remained cautious and occasionally grew none too secure. Thus, this Romeo and Juliet looked somewhat tentative in their Balcony duet--though elsewhere, Walters provided a committed, capably executed portrayal.

Both matinee and evening performances benefited from Peter Narbutas’ memorably sensual, sardonic and dangerous Tybalt--even those repeated, flailing death-throes mandated by the score took you by surprise.

In the afternoon, Joseph Schnell offered audiences a lightweight Mercutio: spirited, easy to ignore in the teeming throngs and often inclined to throw himself into bravura passages without ideal control. Carl Corry (the Friday Mercutio) danced the role again Saturday night.

John Miner conducted at the matinee, Allan Lewis in the evening--each equally alert to the weight and force in the score as well as the expressive priorities of the principal dancers.