Theater review: Young love shines fiercely in Curtain Theatre show

Everybody knows “Romeo and Juliet.” Whether or not you’ve seen William Shakespeare’s play (once or many, many times), you’re surely familiar with the basics. Two teenagers from feuding families fall in love at first sight, setting off a tragic series of rash decisions and mishaps.

The Curtain Theatre production, now playing for free in Mill Valley’s Old Mill Park Amphitheatre, offers a lively refresher or introduction to the classic story. It is in a sense a very traditional production, set in the original period and taking few liberties with the text.

Running a little over three hours with intermission, this is an unusually complete “Romeo and Juliet,” including many sections that are often cut and adding a few new songs and dances. It boasts a large cast of 20, with little doubling of roles.

Dale Leonheart is a sunny, sharp-witted and playful Juliet, and Nic Moore makes a moody Romeo, melodramatically ardent in the way some teenagers can be. If she’s the sun, he’s the moon.

Smitten with Juliet at first sight mere moments after moaning his love for someone else, Romeo is also trouble. The contrast and chemistry between them is so palpable that it’s hard to help wishing she could resist getting drawn into his drama that’s sure to crush her spirits one way or another.

The cast is strong in general. As Romeo’s buddies and companions in carousing, Nelson Brown makes a boisterous Mercutio and Grace Kent a playful, jocund Benvolia. Ramon Villa is a fuming, volatile Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, always itching for a fight to defend the honor of the Capulets.

Heather Cherry’s imperious Prince tries in vain to keep the Capulet and Montague families to keep the bloodshed to a minimum. And yet Evan Winet’s buffoonish Capulet, Amy Dietz’s sneering Lady Capulet, Tom Reilly’s dour Montague and Marianne Shine’s poised Lady Montague continue to squabble over the pettiest provocation.

Glenn Havlan is a mellow Friar Laurence, the young couple’s confidant and co-conspirator. Michael Hunter’s Paris, Juliet’s family-sanctioned suitor, is stiff and uncomfortable in social situations. Kim Bromley exudes tender concern as Juliet’s comically garrulous Nurse, and Grey Wolf is amusingly nonchalant as servant Peter.

The ensemble songs by music director Don Clark that bookend the show are euphonious and appropriate to the mood and setting of the play, and Hal Hughes provides some lovely Renaissance-inspired instrumental music to accompany the action. Both composers are in the acoustic quartet that accompanies the show, alongside Jo Lusk and artistic director Michele Delattre.

Steve Coleman’s set provides a lovely suggestion of period Verona, and Jody Branham’s elegant costumes nicely complete the picture.

Also choreographing its courtly dances and spirited swordfights, director Steve Beecroft really takes his time with this production. The show doesn’t seem slow-paced despite its length, but there’s a sense of trying to give every moment its due, even the lengthy exposition at the end that needlessly recaps all the events that we just saw take place.

From giddy beginning to tragic end, the love affair lasts only a few days, and it’s impossible to say whether the two teens’ infatuation would last the week if they didn’t get caught up in a relentless chain of events, or whether their impetuous hearts would soon take them in different directions.

But in their scenes together here you can really sense the overwhelming desire pervading their impish flirtation. Whatever the future holds, in this moment they are each other’s whole world, and you can’t help but root for them even as they make one ill-advised move after another. The audience needs that emotional investment for this play to work, and on that level the performers and the production really deliver.

Sam Hurwitt is a Bay Area arts journalist and playwright. Contact him at shurwitt@gmail.com or on Twitter at twitter.com/shurwitt.

If you go

What: “Romeo and Juliet”

Where: Old Mill Park Amphitheatre, 375 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley

When: Through Sept. 4; 2 p.m. weekends and Labor Day Monday

Admission: Free

Information: curtaintheatre.org

Rating (out of five stars): ★★★★