Friday, August 16, 2013

Win Free tickets to Romeo & Juliet on BROADWAY!

A timeless classic returns to Broadway! For your chance to win a FREE pair of tickets to Romeo And Juliet on Broadway I want to know why you love the play. Did you read it in high school? Did you star in your college production? Do you have a favorite film rendition? Tell me by replying in the "comments" section below by Friday August 23rd! A winner will be chosen at random and notified by Saturday August 24th. Make sure to include your email address so I can contact the winner. 

International film star Orlando Bloom will make his Broadway debut alongside two-time Tony Award® nominee Condola Rashad, as Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers in a new Broadway production of the timeless love story ROMEO AND JULIET, directed by five-time Tony Award® nominee David Leveaux. The play will open on Broadway on Thursday, September 19, 2013 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, following preview performances from Saturday, August 24, 2013.


The production will also star Tony Award® winner Brent Carver (Kiss of the Spider Woman) as Friar Laurence, two-time Tony Award® nominee Jayne Houdyshell (Well, Follies) as the Nurse, Tony Award® winner Chuck Cooper (The Life, “House Of Cards”) as Lord Capulet, Christian Camargo (All My Sons, The Hurt Locker) as Mercutio, Roslyn Ruff (The Piano Lesson, The Help) as Lady Capulet, Conrad Kemp (HBO’s “The Girl”, Jerome Salle’s Zulu) as Benvolio, Justin Guarini (American Idiot, Women on the Verge…) as Paris, Corey Hawkins as Tybalt, and Geoffrey Owens as Prince Escalus. Completing the cast are Donte Bonner, Joe Carroll, Don Guillory, Sheria Irving, Maurice Jones, Eric Loscheider, Spencer Plachy, Michael Rudko, Tracy Sallows, Thomas Schall, Carolyn Michelle Smith and Nance Williamson.

While ROMEO AND JULIET is the most famous love story of all time, this production will mark the first time in 36 years that the play will be produced for Broadway. This version of the classic tale will retain Shakespeare’s original language but have a modern setting in which members of the Montague family will be white, and the Capulet family will be black.

TICKETS

Tickets are available now at The Richard Rodgers Theatre Box Office (226 West 46th Street), online at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

A limited number of $20 tickets for each performance are available for college students. Tickets may be purchased in advance either at the Box Office with valid ID or online, exclusively through TIX4STUDENTS.COM. Limit of two tickets per order; price does not include facility fee.

For educators: A limited number of $20 tickets for each performance are available for educators. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Box Office with valid ID. Educator tickets are only available for purchase at the box office. Limit of two tickets per order; price does not include facility fee.


PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE


Beginning Saturday, August 24: Tuesdays at 8:00PM, Wednesdays at 2:00PM & 8:00PM, Thursdays at 8:00PM, Fridays at 8:00PM, Saturdays at 2:00PM & 8:00PM, and Sundays at 3:00PM. (There will be no matinee performances on August 25, August 28, or September 4. There is an added performance on August 25 at 7:00PM)

Beginning Friday, September 20: Tuesdays at 7:00PM, Wednesdays at 2:00PM & 8:00PM, Thursdays at 7:00PM, Fridays at 8:00PM, Saturdays at 2:00PM & 8:00PM, and Sundays at 3:00PM.



ONLINE & SOCIAL NETWORKS


17 comments:

  1. I love the play because I adore Shakespeare, especially the tragedies (more drama and violence and excitement and passion, yay :) ). My fave R&J would have to be the Franco Zeffirelli film, which is just beautifully filmed, and Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting gave such real performances!

    Email: lady_stardust25@yahoo.com

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  2. I remember reading Romeo & Juliet in my 9th grade English class and having to memorize the prologue. Then my English professor, who should have been a drama teacher, would act out whole scenes by himself. He did a one-man Shakespeare before even Alan Cumming. Being that young and trying to comprehend Shakespeare was difficult, but I learned to love his work and fell in love with many other of his works.

    Email: brian.sheola@gmail.com

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  3. There are several reason that Romeo and Juliet is my favorite of Shakespeare's tragedies. I love this play because I think it's so universal. The themes can be applied to any time and any place, but you could say the same of his other work. I also love it for the poetry which hardly ever breaks iambic pentameter. Romeo and Juliet's first conversation takes place in sonnet form (Shakespeare's way of saying they're already in love). People tend to think of the characters as simple but they're not. They undergo arcs of transformation. When we first meet Romeo he's infatuated with another woman. People sometimes say that he's not really in love with Juliet because of that. They claim he's just fickle. But when he talks about Roseline, Romeo enjoys posturing as the Tormented Lover. That's why he picks someone he knows he has no chance with. Romeo's crush on Roseline is there to tell us that Juliet is NOT a teenage infatuation. He's already had that!. She's the real deal. Contrast his talk about Rosaline ("under love's heavy burden do I sink") with his talk of Juliet ("How sweet is love itself possessed when but love's shadows are so rich in joy"). Even when things with Juliet are looking bleak (he's exiled and away from her he still takes joy in the very thought of her. Juliet undergoes the transformation from girl who won't go so far as to fight her parents when they are arranging her marriage ("I'll look to like, if looking liking move...")and initially tries to slow things down with Romeo and not be so impulsive ("I should have been more strange I must confess, but thou overhearst ere I was ware, my true love's passion") to someone who is so desperate that she's willing to fake her own death, leave everything she knows and be buried alive in order to have a chance at a life with her love. Her suicide is an act of rebellion. Her alternative is to spend the rest of her life in a convent. If she can't be with Romeo, life hidden away isn't an acceptable alternative to her. At the beginning of the play it might have been but her character has changed. I guess my point is that it's not as much a "teen play" as some people think. It's got a lot of complexity, but it is about youth in the energy it has as it moves forward.

    I remember seeing the Baz Luhrmann version (for the first time) when I was 12 and being so wowed by it. Not only did it transport the play to contemporary times but it retained the language- and it worked! Instead of speaking it as poetry the actors spoke it as they would natural every day conversation. It was proof of how flexible and universal Shakespeare's language is. It's as universal as his themes- although some persist in calling it antiquated. Luhrmann also understood that in his own time Shakespeare wasn't highbrow. He was popular entertainment for the masses. So Luhrmann styled his film as popular entertainment of the mainstream audience circa 1996. It includes elements of music videos and pop music soundtrack. He wasn't afraid of the low comedy in the beginning because he knew it was as much a part of the play as the high tragedy at the end. It was such an energetic film for a very energetic play. It moved at a quick pace (some complain TOO quick with all the fast camera work and jump cuts) and was full of the energy and passion of youth.

    email: fl827@hotmail.com

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  4. I was the sound board operator for Romeo and Juliet in college. It was such a pleasure to sit in that booth night after night and become so familiar with this beautiful story and language. jhr222@cornell.edu

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  5. 9th grade was definitely the year of "Romeo and Juliet" for me between reading it in class, seeing the Baz Luhrman version and performing it on stage. One of those plays you take for granted when it's all your learning but years later just realize how beautiful it really is

    alex.mogil@cbs.com

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  6. Barbara Stansbury
    BSTAN46@AOL.COM

    Like everybody else I first read Romeo and Juliet as a high school freshman in 1996. Even at 14, I considered myself a hopeless romantic. Heck! I still am at 31. Must have been watching all those soaps growing up with my grandma. I was immediately captivated by Shakespeare's language, and the idead that a work of art can still manage to have such an impound after all these centuries. My 9th grade teacher, Mrs. Griggs took us on a field trip to see the play at the Papermill Playhouse, and we had the opportunity for a Q&A with the cast afterwards. I remember being too tongue-tied to ask a question to "Juliet."
    The following winter Baz Luhrman's version came out in theaters and like any high school girl, made a date with my friends to see it. At the time it may have been more about seeing Leo, (because of course he was so dreamy), but in the years since it amazes me how that version opened up an entire new audience to once again share the greatest tragedy ever told. Although the end scene with Romeo refusing to lookdown to a now awake Juliet may be
    Now, 17 years later I cone of the most visually frustrating scenes in cinematic history!
    I can proudly say that as a 9th grade English Teacher I have followed in the footsteps of my favorite teacher, Mrs. Griggs. Every Spring I have the privledge of introducing Romeo and Juliet to a new generation of readers. With my students, we love tracing the origins back to Pyramus and Thisbe and educating my current crop of teens about the beauty that is Shakespeare.It is a wonder to watch them at first be timid over the language because it is so daunting, then gradually gain confidence as the scenes progress. Not to mention, they love the textbook pictures of Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey because of course he reminds them of a modern day Zach Efron.
    In my classroom we introduce props (foam swords of course), classmade scenery, and it is a joy to watch my students argue over roles and embrace the language instead of being intimidated by it.
    My students once asked me the universal question, why do we still read this? The answer is simple. We all want to believe in the idea that lovecan overcome anything, we all want to believe in love at first sight. Even though we may shake our head at the rashness and boldness of Romeo and Juliet's courtship, we may weep over Juliet's abandonment at the end of Act III, and we certainly question the guidance of adults who should know better. This is what being a teenager is all about. Act first, and think about the consequences for another day. What teen can say they have never put passion and emotion before rational thinking?
    Together, all of these years later, I am proud to share the love of Romeo and Juliet as it has followed me for the last 17 years of my life. And when the latest rendition opens on October 11th, you can bet that I will be taking my students to the greatest and most tragic love story ever told.

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  7. The first time I became enamored with Romeo was December of 1995. I was 10, and one day I saw a preview for Romeo and Juliet and the second I saw Leonardo DiCaprio's face, I was a goner. I saw the movie 5 times in the theatre, and never stopped blasting the soundtrack. I was heavily disappointed to not be cast as Juliet in high school, and instead had to console myself with playing Lady Montague. I know a lot of people like to dismiss this story as "puppy love", but to me it is so much bigger than that. The story is an example of how much bigger love is than hate, and how much hate can stand in the way of something beautiful. Not only did two families lose their children, but so much else was lost - years that these families could have been friends were wasted and it took death to point that out. Romeo and Juliet will always remain my favorite Shakespeare play.

    Christina Gonzalez
    christina.isabelle.gonzalez@gmail.com

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  8. I grew up with my grandmother and she used to make me watch the classics as a kid. I think I may have seen Zeferelli’s version when I was 5 years old. I think that movie particularly stood out because of the gorgeous leads and Nino Rota’s score (I mean how haunting is “What is a Youth” and the Tomb Scene? FYI if you haven’t heard of Andre Rieu’s take on Nino Rota’s score, you’re missing a lot! ). It is one of the films that really cultivated my appreciation for literature and the arts (especially musical theater) . Since then, I’ve indulged in a couple of adaptations of the Shakespeare Classic - Baz Luhrmman’s film adaptation, Natalie Wood’s West Side Story and Gerard Persuvic’s musical, Romeo et Juliette to name a few. On a trip to Europe, I persuaded my parents to go on a sidetrip to Verona to see the famous graffiti and balcony. It was certainly a once in a lifetime experience to just be in Verona and take in the allure that the city offers its guests.

    I don’t recall having joined any production of Romeo and Juliet, but I certainly hope to someday.

    musicalphan@yahoo.com

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  9. When I was about eight, my best friend and I staged the balcony scene with her stuffed animals on her bunk bed. I think that was the first time I ever read Shakespeare.

    Two years ago, I saw a new production of Romeo and Juliet in the NY Fringe Festival in which Juliet ended up with Benvolio, and it totally worked and gave it a whole new interpretation.

    Every time I think there are no new interpretations of Shakespeare, I see something that blows my mind. There are so many ways to play and interpret his works, and I am excited to see what this new production will bring.

    thegirlwithpinkhair@yahoo.com

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  10. Wow! Seventh grade field trip to see the Franco Zeffirelli film version with Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting...so amazing, in spite of the boys in my class making fun of it a few rows behind us, that I bought the soundtrack on vinyl and cried my eyes out playing it over and over at home. It really set the bar for romance for me at a young age; just breathtaking!

    e-mail - aprilpix@aol.com

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  11. We watched the Zeffirelli version in High School. I won't lie, one of the highlights was the teacher not paying attention and practically vaulting over a desk to cover Olivia Hussey's nakedness. IT may not be my favorite of Shakespeare's plays but it is almost always enjoyable.

    Movidude74 @ aol.com

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  12. I love the darkness of the show. I've always been so shocked that it's portrayed as a great romance when to me it has never been about the beauty of young love so much as the foolhardiness of young lust, the detachment of many parents, and the abiding challenges of youth.

    And yet the film version I'm still most taken by is the swooningly beautiful Zeffirelli film. I have actually never seen it on stage and can't wait for the chance to do so. Hopefully (fingers crossed!) by winning these tickets!

    jimdmccarthy@gmail.com

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  13. I remember reading Romeo & Juliet in high school english and I immediately fell in love with the story! I believe the theme of the play still resonates in modern society. I enjoy all of Shakespeare's work and have come to see them in a differnt light as i've become an adult.

    I also enjoyed the 1996 film version of Romeo and Juliet starring Leonardo Dicaprio.

    acf111586@yahoo.com

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  14. Read the play in high school and have developed a deeper appreciation for it each time I read it. This is the play that got me addicted to reading more Shakespeare and loving it. It holds special meaning to me.

    Joe C
    jcrock1@gmail.com

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  15. The leo de caprio version got me started on shakespeare :)


    rmikopena@yahoo.com

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  16. The olivia hussey,leonard whiting version's the best


    judgee2007@yahoo.com.ph

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