Theater Talks: Romeo And Juliet

Event Details

Join international film star Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lord of the Rings) and two-time Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad (Stick Fly, The Trip To Bountiful), and Tony Award winnerChuck Cooper (The Life, “House Of Cards”), for our latest installment of Theater Talks at the Schomburg. 

Bloom, Rashad, and Cooper are stars in the new Broadway production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet directed by five-time Tony Award nominee David Leveaux. Romeo and Juliet is now playing a limited engagement through January 12, 2014 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (226 West 46th Street, NYC). 
 
The production also stars Tony Award winner Brent Carver (Kiss of the Spider Woman) as Friar Laurence, two-time Tony Award nominee Jayne Houdyshell (Well, Follies) as the Nurse, Christian Camargo (All My Sons, The Hurt Locker) as Mercutio, Roslyn Ruff (The Piano Lesson, The Help) as Lady Capulet, Conrad Kemp as Benvolio, Justin Guarini as Paris, and Corey Hawkins as Tybalt.

While Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story of all time, this production marks the first time in 36 years that the play has been produced for Broadway. This version of the classic tale retains Shakespeare’s original language but has a modern setting in which members of the Montague family are white, and the Capulet family are black. While race defines the family lineages, the original cause of the ‘ancient quarrel’, passed down by successive generations to their young, has been lost to time. Shakespeare’s tale sets the two young lovers in a context of prejudice, authoritarian parents, and a never ending cycle of ‘revenge.’ Against this background, the strength of their love changes the world.