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sophia_sol) wrote2013-06-17 07:12 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2013-06-17 07:12 pm
Romeo es Julia
Romeo es Julia is the Hungarian version of the French musical based on Shakespeare's play based on earlier versions of a similar story. I have never before in life cared at all about this story or the characters in it but either I am a sucker for musicals or the Hungarians did an exceptional job (or both) because SO MANY FEELS OVER EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE. AAAAAAAHHHHHH.
My fave bits: all the ensemble bits about the conflict between the two families. Also everything involving Benvolio (and Mercutio). Also the ENTIRE ENDING SEQUENCE starting with the Capulets deciding marry Julia to Paris. Also all of the dancing. ALSO A LOT OF OTHER THINGS.
The reason I decided to watch this musical iscarmarthen, and she is super into Tybalt, so of course I was paying attention to him! And he is indeed very interesting! But I was more invested in Benvolio (great hair and great friendships and great dancing, and a tendency to make a joke out of everything up to the point when things become Really Srs Bznss! What else do you need!) than Tybalt (angstily fucked up and having UST with every single character!). Tybalt is very nearly one of my character types, but he needs to have a little bit more redemptive possibility for me to be really into him. Also preferably a sense of humour.
My one complaint with R es J: HOW MANY LOVE SONGS DOES ONE MUSICAL NEED FFS. Probs I shouldn't have expected anything else from a story about Romeo and Juliet but UGH. Everything else about this musical is greattt! And I even do have feels over the romantic leads and their relationship! But I generally find love songs boring ("blah blah blah person xyz is perfect and wonderful and insert nature metaphors here and I would die if we are parted," yeah, whatever, say something I haven't heard a million times before) and when what seems like HALF THE SONGS IN THE DRATTED THING ARE LOVE SONGS.....! But when I ignore the boring love songs and watch them interact with each other, they are just super cute with each other and I have feels!
And okay agh look idek feelings are weird. Like, I have all these UNDIRECTED feels about this musical. I can't even tell what in particular they are about! I just have FEELS. Usually when I have feels about something I can be like "yes these particular aspects are what I am having feels over" but right now I'm just kind of like, ROMEO ES JULIA = FEELS. Okay then!
I posted the following to my tumblr last night:
And then I promptly decided that yes I DO want to reread Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. So I did that. This is the first time since I studied it ("studied" it) in Grade 10 English class, which would be, gosh, 8 or 9 years ago at this point. (I FEEL SO OLD)
Here are some of the things that jumped out at me:
So first of all EVERYTHING ABOUT TYBALT IS DIFFERENT. Yep. And R es J Tybalt is way more fascinating, because he's given, like, motivations and backstory and stuff, instead of being nothing but Dude Who Really Really Hates Montagues But Especially Romeo.
Secondly, the transmission of the message to Romeo from the Friar, and why it went astray. I really like what the musical did with that! It's very different and very effective. It was actually that scene, where Benvolio is all "oh noes do I have to tell Romeo his beloved is dead" where I did my post yesterday bemoaning how stressful the musical was.
And thirdly, I need to talk about the backdrop of the feud between the Montagues and Capulets. THIS WILL TAKE MORE THAN A FEW WORDS.
There are really three things that need comparing here: the popular culture understanding of R and J, the text of R and J, and the Hungarian production of R es J.
Now, the first two things are of course not actually the same. When you hear people talk about R and J, it's either about the beautiful tragic doomed perfect romance, or it is about the idiocy of these two kids getting themselves killed over a crush.
When you read the Shakespeare, it is more complicated. You have to look at their story in context! (CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING. ALWAYS.) And there is this added dimension of the conflict between the two families being the reason for the tragedy. It say so explicitly and everything! As the Prince says at the end:
But reading through the play, after seeing R es J, I am struck by how not a big thing the conflict is made into, in the text of the play. Oh, it could be definitely turned into a big deal depending on how it's staged, but looking just at the words...it's there, yeah, but it's easy to ignore if you're not paying attention to it.
The play opens (after the prologue) with a couple Montagues and a couple Capulets having a fight in the street, and that's the only real indication you get that this is a Montague-wide and Capulet-wide thing. All other references and indications of the conflict seem to be rather more on a personal level: Tybalt v Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio v everyone, and it rather gives the impression that it's just a bunch of young hotheads being young hotheads instead of a family-wide feud.
This is underscored by some of the distinct LACK of conflict that happens! When Romeo gatecrashes the mask party, Dad Capulet is all "eh, that Romeo, he's a good kid, leave him be" when Tybalt gets enraged. That is not a very family-feud reaction!
Anyways, it is all there, and the love story doesn't actually make much sense without it, but because the vastly huge percentage of time in the play is devoted to the love story, it's easy for the context to get lost or forgotten.
And here is what I love about R es J: it doesn't allow the context to get lost. It is motherfucking UP FRONT AND PERSONAL with you about what a big deal this rivalry is! The whole production has an anarchic and almost post-apocalyptic feel to it! There's a large chorus of nameless Montagues and Capulets who get into epic fights with each other and spend a lot of time menacing each other! There's a dramatic duet between the ladies of the two houses about the rivalry! The first song in the play is all about how wracked with fighting Verona is because of these two damn families! And it just keeps on coming back. It really leaves you with a visceral sense that there is a conflict and it is a big deal to everyone in a way that R and J doesn't.
I mean, you could make the argument that Shakespeare was being, idk, subtle and literary and stuff, and it would even be a successful argument. But sometimes a story could just really do with an anvil! And musicals are REALLY GOOD at anvils. :P
A result of this difference in degree of focus is the degree to which I believe the end of the story. The tragic deaths of these two young folks cause both houses to promptly quit their feud without any difficulty? Really? In R and J I can very nearly buy it, but in R es J it just...doesn't seem very likely. Oh, I believe there might be a good faith effort put towards it, for a little while at least, but the tragic effects of the rivalry won't actually have much of an impact on the belief on both sides that the others are, well, other. Us vs them mentality, and it's so entrenched in everyone that it can't be just gotten rid of in an instant!
In conclusion I want R es J fic about Benvolio post-canon, and the Capulets and Montagues in general post-canon!
(there is one other thing from the play I want to comment on. It doesn't fit anywhere into my analysis but it is just a really lovely wee character moment for Juliet. When she finds out that her mom is into the notion of killing Romeo, without pause she's all OH LET ME MAKE THE POISON TO KILL THAT BASTARD PLS. Juliet is a girl who can think on her feet! I love that.)
In vaguely related news, I really want to watch the Hungarian version of the musical Elisabeth now. Apparently one of the main characters is a darkly sparkly bisexual personification of death? WOW I AM SO THERE. I would worry over how into personifications of death I am except for how I have no desire to actually meet any of them myself....
My fave bits: all the ensemble bits about the conflict between the two families. Also everything involving Benvolio (and Mercutio). Also the ENTIRE ENDING SEQUENCE starting with the Capulets deciding marry Julia to Paris. Also all of the dancing. ALSO A LOT OF OTHER THINGS.
The reason I decided to watch this musical is
carmarthen, and she is super into Tybalt, so of course I was paying attention to him! And he is indeed very interesting! But I was more invested in Benvolio (great hair and great friendships and great dancing, and a tendency to make a joke out of everything up to the point when things become Really Srs Bznss! What else do you need!) than Tybalt (angstily fucked up and having UST with every single character!). Tybalt is very nearly one of my character types, but he needs to have a little bit more redemptive possibility for me to be really into him. Also preferably a sense of humour.My one complaint with R es J: HOW MANY LOVE SONGS DOES ONE MUSICAL NEED FFS. Probs I shouldn't have expected anything else from a story about Romeo and Juliet but UGH. Everything else about this musical is greattt! And I even do have feels over the romantic leads and their relationship! But I generally find love songs boring ("blah blah blah person xyz is perfect and wonderful and insert nature metaphors here and I would die if we are parted," yeah, whatever, say something I haven't heard a million times before) and when what seems like HALF THE SONGS IN THE DRATTED THING ARE LOVE SONGS.....! But when I ignore the boring love songs and watch them interact with each other, they are just super cute with each other and I have feels!
And okay agh look idek feelings are weird. Like, I have all these UNDIRECTED feels about this musical. I can't even tell what in particular they are about! I just have FEELS. Usually when I have feels about something I can be like "yes these particular aspects are what I am having feels over" but right now I'm just kind of like, ROMEO ES JULIA = FEELS. Okay then!
I posted the following to my tumblr last night:
Here is the thing: people talking about Romeo and Juliet talk about just that, the characters of and relationship between R and J. But watching Romeo es Julia, there was so much richness in the background and context and web of relationships. The camera is pulled back, it’s not just about their world of two, because there IS more in their world. I as the viewer was asked to react emotionally to far more than just those two characters, and paradoxically that makes me like them more.
Maybe (probably) this is all in the Shakespeare too, but that’s not what people talk about when they talk R and J, so this is kind of a revolutionary experience for me. I actually almost want to reread the Shakespeare, so I can see what is and isn’t different in R es J.
And then I promptly decided that yes I DO want to reread Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. So I did that. This is the first time since I studied it ("studied" it) in Grade 10 English class, which would be, gosh, 8 or 9 years ago at this point. (I FEEL SO OLD)
Here are some of the things that jumped out at me:
So first of all EVERYTHING ABOUT TYBALT IS DIFFERENT. Yep. And R es J Tybalt is way more fascinating, because he's given, like, motivations and backstory and stuff, instead of being nothing but Dude Who Really Really Hates Montagues But Especially Romeo.
Secondly, the transmission of the message to Romeo from the Friar, and why it went astray. I really like what the musical did with that! It's very different and very effective. It was actually that scene, where Benvolio is all "oh noes do I have to tell Romeo his beloved is dead" where I did my post yesterday bemoaning how stressful the musical was.
And thirdly, I need to talk about the backdrop of the feud between the Montagues and Capulets. THIS WILL TAKE MORE THAN A FEW WORDS.
There are really three things that need comparing here: the popular culture understanding of R and J, the text of R and J, and the Hungarian production of R es J.
Now, the first two things are of course not actually the same. When you hear people talk about R and J, it's either about the beautiful tragic doomed perfect romance, or it is about the idiocy of these two kids getting themselves killed over a crush.
When you read the Shakespeare, it is more complicated. You have to look at their story in context! (CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING. ALWAYS.) And there is this added dimension of the conflict between the two families being the reason for the tragedy. It say so explicitly and everything! As the Prince says at the end:
Capulet! Montague!
See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.
And I for winking at your discords too
Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd.
But reading through the play, after seeing R es J, I am struck by how not a big thing the conflict is made into, in the text of the play. Oh, it could be definitely turned into a big deal depending on how it's staged, but looking just at the words...it's there, yeah, but it's easy to ignore if you're not paying attention to it.
The play opens (after the prologue) with a couple Montagues and a couple Capulets having a fight in the street, and that's the only real indication you get that this is a Montague-wide and Capulet-wide thing. All other references and indications of the conflict seem to be rather more on a personal level: Tybalt v Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio v everyone, and it rather gives the impression that it's just a bunch of young hotheads being young hotheads instead of a family-wide feud.
This is underscored by some of the distinct LACK of conflict that happens! When Romeo gatecrashes the mask party, Dad Capulet is all "eh, that Romeo, he's a good kid, leave him be" when Tybalt gets enraged. That is not a very family-feud reaction!
Anyways, it is all there, and the love story doesn't actually make much sense without it, but because the vastly huge percentage of time in the play is devoted to the love story, it's easy for the context to get lost or forgotten.
And here is what I love about R es J: it doesn't allow the context to get lost. It is motherfucking UP FRONT AND PERSONAL with you about what a big deal this rivalry is! The whole production has an anarchic and almost post-apocalyptic feel to it! There's a large chorus of nameless Montagues and Capulets who get into epic fights with each other and spend a lot of time menacing each other! There's a dramatic duet between the ladies of the two houses about the rivalry! The first song in the play is all about how wracked with fighting Verona is because of these two damn families! And it just keeps on coming back. It really leaves you with a visceral sense that there is a conflict and it is a big deal to everyone in a way that R and J doesn't.
I mean, you could make the argument that Shakespeare was being, idk, subtle and literary and stuff, and it would even be a successful argument. But sometimes a story could just really do with an anvil! And musicals are REALLY GOOD at anvils. :P
A result of this difference in degree of focus is the degree to which I believe the end of the story. The tragic deaths of these two young folks cause both houses to promptly quit their feud without any difficulty? Really? In R and J I can very nearly buy it, but in R es J it just...doesn't seem very likely. Oh, I believe there might be a good faith effort put towards it, for a little while at least, but the tragic effects of the rivalry won't actually have much of an impact on the belief on both sides that the others are, well, other. Us vs them mentality, and it's so entrenched in everyone that it can't be just gotten rid of in an instant!
In conclusion I want R es J fic about Benvolio post-canon, and the Capulets and Montagues in general post-canon!
(there is one other thing from the play I want to comment on. It doesn't fit anywhere into my analysis but it is just a really lovely wee character moment for Juliet. When she finds out that her mom is into the notion of killing Romeo, without pause she's all OH LET ME MAKE THE POISON TO KILL THAT BASTARD PLS. Juliet is a girl who can think on her feet! I love that.)
In vaguely related news, I really want to watch the Hungarian version of the musical Elisabeth now. Apparently one of the main characters is a darkly sparkly bisexual personification of death? WOW I AM SO THERE. I would worry over how into personifications of death I am except for how I have no desire to actually meet any of them myself....