Discover what is being said about Sam Gold’s production starring Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler with our review round up!
The Guardian: *** “Connor, who excelled at tentative sensitivity in Heartstopper, plays Romeo with amiable laddishness, more soft-hearted, hot-blooded brawn than underdeveloped brain. He is the only cast member who demonstrated a natural grasp on the tricky rhythm of Shakespeare; I palpably relaxed whenever he began to speak, so much better does the dialogue sound from his mouth: intentional, loaded, somewhere never obtuse.”
New York Theater.me: “My inner English teacher is grateful to director Sam Gold for drawing a younger crowd (voluntarily, eagerly!) to Shakespeare. The production sometimes thrilled my outer theatergoer too. Sometimes, but not always. There are downsides to Gold’s presenting the tale of star-crossed lovers primarily through youthful energy. This is most apparent after intermission, when the action turns to quiet gravity and grief, and Shakespeare’s words matter more. The cast’s relative lack of stage experience is manifest in a flattening of both the poetry and the tragedy.”
Variety: “It’s early in the run, and it’s possible that Gold spent less time with his actors on the second act of the play. But it’s also possible that it takes real genius to pull off the death scene in “Romeo and Juliet.” The audience has to believe that these are not just two children caught up in the early days of first love, but that they’re fated by the Gods and the universe to have met and to have died. What we have here instead is a fun night out and a hangover.”
Deadline: “Without tinkering with Shakespeare’s language, this R+J is full of youthful energy – and, what’s more, contemporary youthful energy. Watch how the young cast gestures, maneuvers, gets their bodies from one place to another – courtesy of movement direction and choreography by Sonya Tayeh – and the effect is entirely fresh.”
WhatsOnStage: “It’s Connor and Zegler, however, who you’ll really walk away remembering. Connor has established himself as a first-rate leading man as Romeo. Zegler, though not quite his Shakespearean equal, shines in every moment she’s onstage. And their balcony scene is one for the ages. When Juliet’s bed dramatically descends from the flies, Connor grabs hold and pulls himself up, muscles flexing. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Broadway audience go that wild.”
Entertainment Weekly: “a glittering, queer, Gen Z take on Shakespeare’s play that is wonderfully wild, visually stunning, and unabashedly horny.”
The Hollywood Reporter: “With actors dashing not only up and down the aisles but across industrial scaffolding overhead, confusion often reigns as much as vitality, making you wonder how closely first-timers will follow the plot. But theatergoers with fresh memories of studying Romeo and Juliet in school, or of their own first loves, should get eagerly caught up in the romantic rapture, the cancer of festering hatred and the cruelty of predetermined fate.”
New York Stage Review: “The revival might be categorized as one of the “for our time” productions of classics we’re habitually handed these noisy days. Directed by Sam Gold—who rarely approaches a revival without shaking it up like a mishandled martini—this Romeo + Juliet treats the Bard as if in 2024 he’s running the risk of becoming embarrassingly passé. Gold is one of a growing revival-director contingent out to prove they understand the expectations of this year’s up-to-the-cool-minute audiences.”
The Stage: “Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler lose themselves in a feverish production with music by Jack Antonoff.”
The Telegraph: “Starring opposite Rachel Zegler, the Heartstopper alumnus dazzles in Sam Gold’s new staging at the Circle in the Square, New York.”
Theatrely.com: ” Gold’s emphasis on social circles supports the play’s intended tragedy of two sacrificial lambs caught in a larger web. Despite the star power of its leads, the staging holds firm in its strong thematic core. It’s all a very pleasant surprise that this Romeo + Juliet is more akin to Skins – the British series whose impact we must not let be forgotten – than expected: wildly enjoyable, acutely contemporary, potently acted, and often surprisingly revealing.”
New York Theatre Guide: “By having a uniformly young cast, Romeo + Juliet successfully drives home the juvenile pettiness of the Montague/Capulet feud and sorrow for the lives lost too soon, just as these characters were growing up and coming into their own. But this production of the love story hasn’t quite found its heartbeat.”
To find out more about the production visit: https://romeoandjulietnyc.com/