April Phillips Correspondent
Perhaps no love story has so captured the hearts of young and old across centuries like that of Romeo and Juliet. Since Shakespeare’s play was published in 1597, it has been read, performed, adapted, and, in some cases, shamelessly copied.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, opera fans and hopeless romantics alike can celebrate with Virginia Opera’s production of one of the more-beloved adaptations of the story, Charles Gounod’s 1867 French opera. “Romeo & Juliet” returns to Hampton Roads today.
Juliet is performed by soprano Marie-Eve Munger, a French-Canadian well-versed in singing the French repertoire. To fully inhabit her character, a young girl who falls tragically in love with a boy from a rival clan, she’s spent time reflecting on Juliet’s strength and the depth of her ability to love.
“Unlike Juliet, who knew what she wanted immediately, I have my doubts in life. For her, there were no half-measures. In performing this character, you have to jump in and live it. You have to dig in and embrace the risks,” she said.
Without welcoming the element of fear, Munger said, a performer risks losing an important link to Juliet’s staying power as a tragic yet uniquely strong heroine.
In many ways, a performer throwing herself into a role in spite of the fear of failing is like someone falling in love. Giving your heart to another human being almost always feels like jumping off a cliff, and all you can do is hope the other person is willing to jump off with you to experience the unknown that occurs when we’re in free fall.
“I’ve known love; I’ve known love at first sight,” Munger said. “That’s part of who I am, and I use a lot of my own history in this role. Love, like opera, always involves risk.”
She said it helps that all cast members are taking a risk together. For her, love is a verb, and what matters is how you show it – to your friends, family and fellow performers.
“For us, even in rehearsal, we have to show our love through compassion. The intimacy is very quick.”
That may be an understatement. On the first day of rehearsal, Munger found herself staging a scene in bed with tenor Jonathan Boyd’s Romeo.
“I was like, ‘Hi! What’s your name?’” she said with a laugh. “But I do love him now as a friend very much, and I try to show that love by offering respect and listening.”
Although Romeo and Juliet is an old story, Munger said it still resonates because the experience of falling in love, at its core, really hasn’t changed.
“Juliet is a strong, passionate young lady,” Munger said. “She’s very young but she knows what she wants and she’s an equal part of that relationship. In many ways, it’s quite modern and it speaks to us as 21st century people.”
However, Munger, also is experiencing a phenomenon of 21st century love: She’s in a long-tern relationship with a man who lives in France, made possible through modern means of communication. She said the one big difference she sees between falling in love then and falling in love now is Juliet’s seclusion as a young girl of her time.
“The beginning of the story is her coming-out party, the first time she would have been exposed to anyone outside her family. Today we live in a world that is so interconnected. My niece is 11 or 12, and we’re friends on Facebook. She connects with hundreds of people and is exposed to lots of ideas. But Juliet is discovering the world for the first time,” she said.
As she portrays Juliet, Munger said, it is crucial to capturing the depth of feeling that she has for Romeo. While Juliet is very young, hers is not puppy love. It’s the real thing.
“But for Romeo, sometimes I wonder,” she said. “Romeo has previously been in love with someone else. He seems to be in love with love, and his friends make fun of him for it. But with Juliet, for the first time, it’s a completely reciprocal relationship. That’s what makes their love different and so strong.”
IF YOU GO
What: Virginia Opera’s production of Gounod’s “Romeo & Juliet”
When: 8 p.m. today, 2:30 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Where: Harrison Opera House, 160 E Virginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk Tickets $19 – $121, www.vaopera.org, 866-673-7282