When William Shakespeare wrote his tale of star-crossed lovers—one a Montague, the other a Capulet—he said little about what everyone else was doing in fair Verona. This is where the Chicago Repertory Ballet comes in. The company's newest production, Capulets, a two-weekend event on the Gold Coast, extrapolates from Romeo and Juliet with a strong creative story centered on Juliet's mother.
This isn't Wade Schaaf's first flirtation with Bard. The artistic director of the 13-year-old troupe staged a ballet version of Macbeth almost ten years ago. But The Capulets plays a completely different game: Schaaf wrote the libretto in which Lady Capulet (a gracefully dancing Miriam-Rose LeDuc) becomes romantically involved with Tybalt after discovering that her husband (Rosario Guillen) is sleeping with another man (Paris, danced by Skyler Newcome).
To this Chicago Repertory Ballet adds immersive projections (John Probojowski and Zach Minnich with technical assistance from Liviu Pasare), additional lighting by David Goodman-Edberg, costumes by resident designer Nathan Rohrer, and the icing on the cake: original music by Chicago composer Matty Mattsson. “Capulets” look and feel expensive. I'm sure that's true, but that's not the point. For this critic, who has watched this troupe come of age, Capulet is the first major investment in an ambitious vision for Chicago dance. Hypothesis? That a city can support more than one professional ballet company.
The Capulets is not traditionally Shakespearean in its aesthetic, although there is a lot of swordplay and the occasional courtly dance. Shakespeare wasn't shy about bringing moments of levity to tragedy, which Schaaf picks up and uses best with a body that looks like dancing armor, clad in shimmering Geordi La Forge-style visors. They pose, oohing and ahhing loudly, in front of Leduc and Jackson Ferreira (who plays Tybalt very well), kissing in Tybalt's armory, surrounded by swords and knives – just like you.
By the end of the evening, I wish there had been more tongue-in-cheek moments like this, as when Mattsson, whose synthesized score (his first dance piece) doesn't begin to build until Act II, dives into themes borrowed from Igor Prokofiev's 1935 score for Romeo and Juliet. This is incredibly satisfying for those who can grasp it, and creates familiar rhythmic structures for Schaaf to follow. Like the music, the world created by this impressive creative team is not entirely dependent on its era. Rohrer only hints at Elizabethan dress, embellishing each character with subtle clues about which character is married and which is a lover (these are not mutually exclusive concepts). The projections, which take full advantage of the architectural eccentricity of the Ruth Page Center, are equally ambiguous, not appearing entirely real or rooted in a specific time. This isn't a bad thing – it allows for smoother transitions, with projections pausing from setting up a place (such as animated drone shots of the fictional Verona, or placing us among those knives and swords in the armory) to explore a more abstract world. For example, when Romeo kills Tybalt, there is a black ink stain bleeding everywhere (remember that?). And animated text hints at certain plot points, a touch that enriches the visual experience and may not be entirely necessary.
On the dance side, Schaaf's background as a classical and contemporary dancer, most notable in Todos Dance Chicago in the aughts, is fully realized in the vocabulary of this ballet—perhaps better than any other recent example. What's more, the dancers, a like-minded mix of classical and contemporary specialists, are able to seamlessly switch between floor work and pointe work, and between the serious and the silly.
Not content with tragedy, Capulet's only unforced error is the epilogue, which moves the story forward 10 years to a country estate where children dressed in white dresses dance and play together. This is amazing. But the story ends with the family living happily ever after, Lord Capulet apparently without his boyfriend and raising his wife and beloved child Tybalt (this also happened). I think every family is different. I hope they are happy. And in therapy.
Lauren Warnecke is a freelance critic.
Review: Capulet (3 stars)
When: until November 16.
Where: Chicago Repertory Ballet at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St.
Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes with intermission.
Tickets: $38-$68 chicagorepertoryballet.com
