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Tuesday, October 14, 2008
'Radio and Juliet' is modern masterpiece
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "'Radio and Juliet' was a perfect choice for the first weekend of the Pittsburgh Festival of Firsts and opening of the Pittsburgh Dance Council season. The performance was the U.S. debut of Ballet Maribor and the U.S. premiere of its celebrated and very contemporary retelling of the 'Romeo and Juliet' story."
After reading this article, I would say that I were many more interesting choices made then just pairing Shakespeare with Radiohead. Breakdancing seems to be very bold for this kind of show. My buddy got my tickets as a surprise over the weekend, but unfortunately like most performances in and around the area, I had to decline because of obligations to crew calls
ReplyDeleteI saw this last Saturday and thought it was spectacular. I agree with the critic that the music was a bit loud and some points but I don't feel that there was any loss of emotion. The movements were odd but in a way naive and I thought very emotionally charged. In addition the order of the scenes, while making no sense as pieces, take advantage of the audience's prior knowledge of the story line to focus on purely the moments of each scene. Therefore making it a more personal and intimate performance because attention to the plot is not necessarily needed. All in all the performance was an amazing start for the festival.
ReplyDeleteI saw Radio and Juliet last Saturday and left completely humbled. Radiohead's music completely fit the mood of the piece and the quick movements of the dancing felt violent and desperate. I initially thought that the inclusion of video project in this piece would be a distraction and a hinderance but it actually helped clarify where we were in the story. The switching out of Romeos and reverse telling of the plot made being an audience member confusing, but the video certainly helped me understand what was going on. Sitting in the nosebleed in the very back, I appreciated the closeups on faces that the video would show in flashback sequences.
ReplyDeletethis sounded like it might actually be an interesting blend of two great works. I feel like a lot of new pieces being created today are coming from simply putting two previously created pieces together to make an new statement. Unfortunately many of these are unsuccessful because they're trying to put too much into one thing. From what i have heard though, it sounds like this was a short and sweet performance that did not overstep its limits.
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