Romeo et Juliette Tickets

Romeo and Juliet was advertised as a French opera, which you would imagine to showcase the incredible story and setting about young and beautiful love, but this show was the complete opposite! We were in shock to find out from the very beginning of the show that it was a darkly contemporary or bizarre modern twist of the timeless Shakespeare classic, replete with a blow-up pornographic doll on the stage and satanic elements (animal head) in dancing scenes, and odd choices for clothing, hair styles, etc. If Idaho Opera wants to please a contemporary modern art crowd, that's OK, but performances should be honestly advertised! This was a very, very disappointing experience! We left the show after 30 minutes, along with a number of other people. Big disappointment!!

Beautiful voices and beautiful music. That’s about all. Staging was terrible, vulgar (a blow up doll?? Really?), Cell phones, selfies…. Completely uninspired. It doesn’t matter that it’s a smallish company. Especially with opera, there should be some magic and drama to it visually. There was o thought to costuming, no effort to make what was happening on stage visually appealing. If you’re going to contemporize a classic, that’s great, but do it with some modicum of respect…

Cecilia Lopez is amazing. She and Ben Gulley blended beautifully. The opera chorus was strong as a whole. However, just like Rusalka, the set was awful and the costumes were worse! If I had known it would be an amateur rendition of West Side Story (a modern version of Romeo and Juliet), I wouldn't have attended. T-shirts (or no shirts) are not, in my opinion, appropriate for the opera. Nor is awkward choreography. At times, I had to close my eyes to be able to focus on the lovely sounds. Opera Idaho has such potential, but these basics need to be improved. The visuals matter.

The music was great, but the contemporary costuming was a significant let-down. The Romeo actor’s voice was remarkable, but the physical disparity between him and Juliette overwhelmed the love story. While voice and talent may be the determinant in role selection, mentally, R & J as cast were simply not a credible couple. The experience turned into a “just-enjoy-the-music” event and ignore the staging, costuming and characters. Opera Idaho needs pre-disclosure in future event “sales” as to costuming and setting, at least, so that attendees may determine if they want to pay for something different than their perception of the story. Second O.I. Experience—50 / 50 so far!

It wasn’t exactly Romeo and Juliette in the classic sense. The vocals were good but the costumes were what street urchin Chic? It took away from the Opera significantly. Why did we call it Romeo and Juliette? Could have been West Side Story, the title would have been far more appropriate. It was an entertaining performance but it was just wrong from the title to the performance.

The stage was simple, but represent the scenes very well. I missed the ballet in the setting.

I am no expert in the genre of opera nor have I seen very many of them but this performance was lacking in vocal performance strength. I also did not feel a chemistry between the main characters as you would think there would be since they are portraying Romeo and Juliette.

Both my friend and I were completely taken away by the entire production of this opera by Gounod and in particular by the incredible voice of 'Juliette' played by Jennifer Black on Sunday, Nov. 18. Just beautiful! We usually sit in the upper section of the balcony. Unfortunately, there are certain seats that should not be due to the obstruction of the rails along the stair way. All seats in a row cost the same, including those obstructed. Therefore, there should not be a seat where one has to bend forward or sideways. Those seats are for instance in the last row (the only ones available at time of booking) seats 3 and 5 and subsequently, seat 5 should also eliminated. We have had previous complaints about this issue when we had purchased season tickets. Leaving the above aside, I have attended Phoenix Opera since the late '70s when I came from Germany and was used to such musical events from an early age on. It was quite provincial in those times and I must say that the Opera has come a long way and can be compared with great opera houses around the world in terms of production and vocal quality of its cast.

Screechy soprano, minimal stage set...I've definitely seen livelier operas. Will pass on Romeo and Juliette next time.

Outstanding performane by Juliette, Romeo could have been more powerfull!