O Romeo, Romeo, where hast thou been keeping thyself, Romeo?
That's probably the question on many audience members' lips from the moment Stephen Costello begins singing in San Diego Opera's new production of Charles Gounod's "Romeo and Juliet."
In his thrilling company debut as Romeo, the young tenor shows all the promise of becoming America's next great opera star. Besides the fact that he's handsome, well-built and tall (qualities often sorely lacking in tenors), Costello has a robust and secure voice with sweetness and subtlety in the mid-range and those sustained, star-making top notes that seem to go on for hours.
Costello's so strong in the part that he steals a good deal of limelight from his onstage partner (and wife in real life), soprano Ailyn Perez, also making her company debut as Juliet. Perez has a supple, large and flexible voice that moves easily through the character's famed "Juliet's Waltz" aria (though a few of her high notes screeched a little on opening night). She's also beautiful and a good actress. In any other production, her debut would be the talk of the night, but Costello's star power simply outshines her.
In their wedding night scene, the couple's romantic chemistry is obvious, with lots of exuberant kissing. That, and Cynthia Stokes' thoughtful, natural direction, make this opera far more accessible to modern audiences than the company's beautifully sung but stiffly performed "Nabucco" last month. This is an opera with truly exciting swordfights, singers who sing to each other (rather than the audience), and a haunting finale (beautifully lit by Ruth Hutson) that will hang in the memory long after the final curtain.
Shakespeare purists who've never seen Gounod and librettist Jules Barbiere and Michel Carre's adaptation of the play will notice some rather radical changes. Many characters and scenes have been trimmed to allow for arias (including a lovely song by Romeo's page, well performed by Sarah Castle), and the final scene in the crypt allows Juliet to wake up before Romeo dies (so they can have a final duet).
But the opera is still very much in the spirit of Shakespeare's play, and audiences will be swept up in the love story, thanks to the real-life romance of Costello and Perez onstage, and the way audiences are bound to fall in love with Costello's voice.
David Adam Moore makes a playful and dashing Mercutio, Joel Sorensen is appropriately strident as Tybalt and Kevin Langan is a soothing presence as Friar Laurence. And the San Diego Symphony has never sounded prettier than with resident conductor Karen Keltner, a specialist in French opera, in the pit.
The handsome production, rented from Utah Opera, includes an Elizabethan-style, two-story colonnade set that morphs quickly into all sorts of exteriors and interiors, and the costumes are lavish and attractive (except for a few shapeless gowns that don't flatter Perez's figure, and why is Costello the only cast member in a codpiece?).
Performed in French with English supertitles projected above the screen, "Romeo and Juliet" runs three hours, 15 minutes, including two 20-minute intermissions. This sounds long, but the production is so good and so entertaining, nobody will be going home early.
"Romeo and Juliet"
When: 8 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: San Diego Opera at the San Diego Civic Theatre, Third Avenue at B Street, San Diego
Tickets: $35 and up
Info: 619-533-1100
Web: www.sdopera.com
