Romeo & Bernadette

 Romeo & Bernadette
Theater 555
June 25, 2022 

Photo courtesy of Romeo & Bernadette

Romeo & Bernadette is a funny and touching imagining of what happens if the poison Romeo drinks to kill himself at the end of Shakespeare’s classic play is merely a strong sleeping potion.  Mark Salzman’s book and lyrics are phenomenal.  He is strong and bold in his character development.  The music is adapted from classic Italian melodies.  The concept for the show is sharp and original.  Director/choreographer Justin Ross Cohen builds the action and punches every laugh in Mr. Salzman’s brilliant writing.  From the  minute the show starts you are brought into a dual layered plot.  Brooklyn 1960, and Verona 1596.  Both stories are driven by love and full of violent obstacles.

Nikita Burshteyn & Michael Notardonato
Photo courtesy of Romeo & Bernadette

    It is 1960 and we are watching the final scene of a Brooklyn Community Theatre production of Romeo & Juliet.  To prove his sophistication to his date (played by Ari Raskin), a Brooklyn Boy (played by Michael Notardonato) tells her that the story doesn’t end there. Romeo did not actually drink poison.  Instead he drank an extra strong version of the Friar’s sleeping position.  When Romeo (played by Nikita Burshteyn) revives, it is 1960.  He searches for Juliet in this new, modern world, and meets Bernadette Penza (played by Anna Kostakis).  She is on vacation in Verona, Italy with her parents, Camille (played by Judy McLane) and Sal (played by Carlos Lopez), who is a New York mob boss.  Romeo thinks she is Juliet, and follows her to Brooklyn, only to find that she is engaged to Tito Titone (played by Zach Schanne), who works for Bernadette’s father.  Tito puts a hit on Dino Del Canto (also played by Michael Notardonato), the son of Don Del Canto (played by understudy Charlie Marcus), who is Sal Penza’s rival.  Romeo saves Dino’s life during the hit attempt, so Dino vows to help Romeo find his love, Bernadette/Juliet.  When Don Del Canto hears of Romeos brave action, he adapts him as his second son.  The Del Canto’s find out that Romeo’s love is the daughter of their rival, and try to talk him out of searching for her.  Romeo doesn’t listen to them, and finds himself in the middle of another dangerous family dispute.

Judy McLane & Anna Kostakis
Photo courtesy of Romeo & Bernadette

The entire cast is outstanding.  They are fully in sync.  Their comic timing is excellent and their strong voices bring the emotional songs to beautiful fruition.  Nikita Burshteyn and Anna Kostakis have a lovely romantic connection as Romeo and Bernadette.  Michael Notardonato’s Dino Del Canto has a strong chemistry with his love interest, Donna Dubachek (played by Ari Raskin).  Most of the plot of these four characters progresses through song, and these four skilled actor/singers make the most of every moving and humorous moment.  Another powerful vocalist in the cast is Judy McLane.  Her portrayal of Camille Penza is bold, brassy, and hilarious.  There are equally strong performances by Charlie Marcus, Zach Schanne, Carlos Lopez, Viet Vo, and Troy Valjean Rucker, who plays numerous and distinct sidesplitting characters.

Photo courtesy of Romeo & Bernadette

Joseph Shrope’s costume design is outstanding.  The wardrobe is colorful, true to period, and perfect for each character.  The set, by Walt Spangler, is a simple and effective use of space and level.  The scaffolding design allows for numerous surprises when least expected.  

Romeo & Bernadette has just been extended through July.  Get a ticket right away while they last.  It is a unique, entertaining, and romantic adventure.  You don’t want to miss it! 

Domenick Danza

Between Riverside and Crazy

Between Riverside and Crazy

Second Stage Theatre

February 20, 2015

      Photos courtesy of Second Stage Theatre

I finally saw Between Riverside and Crazy, and am sorry I waited so long.  I saw advertisements for months, and read a very good review when it played at The Atlantic Theater Company this past summer and fall.  I read that the Second Stage Theatre’s production was a well-produced continuation of that run with mostly the same cast.  I sat in the theatre, waiting for the show to start, listening to the peculiar meditation-style music and realizing that from where I was sitting I was not going to be able to see all the action of the play.  The set was an interior with multiple rooms that were not in full view from my seat in house left.  I felt joy and excitement when the lights dimmed, the music gained some bass and rhythm, and the set spun on turn table to reveal all three rooms of the apartment, bringing the action down stage center.  I was not the only one to applaud Walt Spangler’s realistic, dilapidated, high-ceiling rendition of a Riverside Drive apartment.  Before a word was spoken, this set pulled me into a realistic and stark world that prepared me for the genuine depiction of the human experience that was to come. 

Stephan McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, and Ron Cephas Jones 

in "Between Riverside and Crazy." Photo: Carol Rosegg

 Act I started with sharp dialogue that defined the characters right off the bat.  The main conflict was introduced in scene two as the backstory of the main character, Pops, played flawlessly by Stephen McKinley Henderson, was revealed.  The action dramatically rose at the end of the first act as Oswaldo, played meticulously by Victor Almanzar, goes off his sobriety and gets violent.  I took a minute to reflect during the intermission and realized that I was deeply involved in the world of this play.  It was real and topical.  Each point of view of the conflict was expressed so clearly that I was able to see the push and pull within each of the characters as their struggle and debate kept the action of the play moving forward.  In the second act a new character was introduced that turned the plot around, caused the conflict to explode, then calm, then pounce voraciously.

The blurb I had read for months about this play says, “City Hall is demanding more than his signature, the landlord wants him out… the struggle to hold on to one of the last great rent stabilized apartments on Riverside Drive collides with old wounds…”  This made me think the play was about the gentrification of New York City.  It is not about that at all.  It is about integrity and pride, healing and second chances.  It is not about the apartment.  Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis (well known for his play The Motherf**ker with the Hat) skillfully crafted an edgy world full of grit and warmth.  Director Austin Pendleton peeled away every layer of that world with actors who delved into themselves and connected to one another with an amazing depth of reality and truth.

This is an important play... a must see!  Three cheers to Second Stage Theatre for mounting The Atlantic Theater Company’s production and keeping it alive.  

Domenick Danza