Home :: DVD :: Art House & International  

Asian Cinema
British Cinema
European Cinema
General
Latin American Cinema
Gounod - Romeo et Juliette / Mackerras, Alagna, Vaduva, Royal Opera Covent Garden

Gounod - Romeo et Juliette / Mackerras, Alagna, Vaduva, Royal Opera Covent Garden

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $26.96
Product Info Reviews

Features:
  • Color


Description:

Gounod's version of Shakespeare's tragedy about two "star-crossed lovers" has never been considered a first-class opera, but as this 1994 Royal Opera production movingly shows, with the right singers and conductor it can be a quite emotional experience. Tenor Roberto Alagna is all youthful ardor and aching romance as Romeo, while soprano Leontina Vaduva plays Juliet as a lover frightfully aware of the doom the pair is moving toward. Among an able supporting cast, Francois Le Roux stands out as Mercutio. Nicolas Joel's staging rarely strays from its focus on the lovers, and it even finds room for moments of true invention and wit. Conducting the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Charles Mackerras again proves his worth as an estimable interpreter of this kind of traditional French opera. --Kevin Filipski
© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates