High tragedy in High Definition
Experience the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Charles Gounod’s masterful opera, “Roméo et Juliette” on the big screen at the Newport Performing Arts Center this Saturday, March 30.
Shakespeare’s classic play is filled with some of the best-known tableaux in literature: rival families, a girl on a balcony and a suitor below, a secret wedding, a desperate plan to be together and a dark reunion in which the young hero and heroine prove that love is stronger than death. To these unforgettably romantic scenes, Gounod’s operatic adaptation adds thrilling music that serves as a heartbreaking counterpart to the transcendent poetry of “The Bard.” The Met’s production moves the action from the Renaissance to the 18th Century, with delightful results.
Two singers at the height of their powers — radiant soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor sensation Benjamin Bernheim — come together as the titular characters in Gounod’s extravagant adaptation, with Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium to conduct one of the repertoire’s most romantic scores. Bartlett Sher’s towering staging also features baritone Will Liverman and tenor Frederick Ballentine as the archrivals Mercutio and Tybalt, mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey as the mischievous pageboy Stéphano, and bass-baritone Alfred Walker as Frère Laurent.
The production is sung in French, with English subtitles.
The broadcast begins at 10 am and has a run time of approximately three hours 30 mins, with one intermission. Tickets range from $15.50 to $25.75.
The Newport Performing Arts Center is located at 777 W Olive Street. For more information, go to coastarts.org or call 541-265-2787.