Onstage hosts short on heart in ‘Romeo’

“Never was a story of more woe,” Shakespeare wrote at the end of his “Romeo and Juliet,” first published and performed in the 1590s and with us ever since. A program titled “Romantic Shakespeare” on Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl paid tribute to its enduring poignance through performances by actors, singers, dancers and instrumentalists -- but without breaking anyone’s heart except those who hoped for more than bland professionalism.

For the occasion, Terrence S. Orr choreographed a one-hour ballet to excerpts from the Prokofiev score (arranged by David Briskin), a version that resourcefully and sometimes imaginatively deployed 30 members of Orr’s Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre on the narrow margin of stage in front of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

Unfortunately, Orr’s dance drama featured Pittsburgh actors Holly Thuma and Brian Dykstra speaking over the music -- an intrusive, unnecessary innovation -- and often seemed confused about what to include or jettison from Shakespeare’s original. Dumping the Nurse wasn’t a bad idea, but why keep Benvolio, Paris or Rosaline when they had so little to do? And why exactly did Juliet take the sleeping potion when no threat of a forced marriage existed in this retelling?

As Juliet, Maribel Modrono danced with sweetness and technical flair, ably partnered by Jiabin Pan as Romeo. Capable support came from Kwang-Suk Choi (Mercutio), James Moore (Benvolio) and Christopher Rendall-Jackson (Paris), but Dmitri Kulev (Tybalt) and Ying Li (Lady Capulet) looked excessively melodramatic in such a brisk, lightweight adaptation.

Songs from the Leonard Bernstein score for “West Side Story” (the 1957 Broadway update of “Romeo and Juliet”) showcased the grainy tone and range limitations of David Miller along with the richer vocalism and greater dramatic insight of Audra McDonald. (“Somewhere” gained a telling edge of hopelessness in her interpretation.)

John Mauceri led the Bowl Orchestra in considerate accompaniments for all the acting, dancing and singing on the program. But his conducting of Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” Fantasy Overture produced a performance almost as unsatisfying as those in previous seasons: more flowing and even heartfelt in the linked recapitulations near the end, perhaps, but just as hopelessly static and shapeless in the opening third of the piece.