PARK RECORD | Park City Opera and Ballet West II Unite for 'Romeo et Juliette'
Singers and dancers work together in upcoming production
Although “Romeo & Juliet” is about a forbidden union, Park City Opera and Ballet West II are making this summer’s production of Charles Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” a formidable partnership.
For the first time, these two Utah-based performing arts companies will take the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts stage on Aug. 21 and 23 tDancers of Ballet West II, Ballet West’s pre-professional company, will add life to the city of Verona while opera artists perform the libretto of one of Shakespeare’s beloved tales, said Park City Opera Artistic Director Benjamin Beckman.
“Our interest in adding dancers is two-fold,” he said. “The first is that the opera takes place in this city, and so often opera is interested in constructing a place for the audience, before the story unfolds,” he said. “For example, in (Georges Bizet’s) ‘Carmen,’ there are five scenes that have nothing to do with the plot, (but) show what Seville is like.”
While ‘Roméo et Juliette’ is not structured in quite the same way, the first thing that audiences see and hear is a sonnet performed by the whole cast and chorus, Beckman said.
“They sing to the audience, explaining what (the audience) is about to see,” he said. “Then we are thrust into this incredible ball scene. So, obviously, there’s this sense of wanting dancers to dance a grand ball we see."