The Milwaukee Rep presents ROMEO & JULIET

The cast of Milwaukee Repertory Theater's production of ROMEO & JULIET at the Wilson Theater in Vogel Hall at the Marcus Performing Arts Center, through March 30, 2025. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

By Mary Boyle

Shakespeare only used a prologue in five of his plays, but easily the most famous is from his most performed work:

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
 
One would think the spoiler would take all the fun out of the story but, in fact, the introductory outline of what will happen helps the audience know what to expect and makes them want to hear the details.  In my humble opinion, this is possibly a large part of why ROMEO & JULIET is the Bard’s most known play.  That, and the wonder, passion, and magic of young love.  Although I’ve seen this play around a dozen times, it never gets old because, even though the language remains the same, each production breathes new life into the story simply by changing the setting, the costumes, and the set.  I’ve seen Romeo & Juliet with the genders reversed, with Romeo as a deaf actor, and many more configurations, both classic and modern, but the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s new version of this most classic of classics is, hands down, the best I’ve ever seen.

Most people know the basics of the story.  The Montagues and Capulets have been at war so long that neither family even knows what the original insult was – they only know they hate each other.  Lord Montague (Dimonte Henning) and Lady Montague (Giselle) are worried about their son, Romeo (Kenneth Hamilton), who seems to have fallen into despair over a girl.  Romeo’s good friends, Mercutio (Mathew C. Yee) and Benvolio (Nate Burger), vow to make him forget by crashing a party held by the Capulets.  There, Romeo meets Juliet (Piper Jean Bailey) and they fall hopelessly in love.  The young couple enlists the help of Juliet’s nurse (Alex Keiper) and Friar Laurence (Nate Burger) to secretly wed, but trouble follows immediately afterward when Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt (Davis Wood) kills Mercutio in a fight, followed by Romeo killing Tybalt in vengeance.  Romeo is banished from Verona as punishment, which is bad enough, but then Lord Capulet (Matt Daniels) and Lady Capulet (Laura Rook) inform Juliet that they have agreed to marry her to Paris (Gabriel Armstrong) immediately.  Friar Laurence comes up with a desperate plan to get Juliet out of her oncoming marriage and reunited in banishment with Romeo but, alas, the star-crossed lovers cannot be helped.

Adapted and directed by Laura Braza, The Rep’s Romeo & Juliet is a dark, gritty rendering with a southern, swampy vibe that rips the story from its English roots and grounds it firmly in America.  From start to finish, the production is woven with music played and sung by the actors themselves, under the direction of musical wizard, Dan Kazemi.  The show opens with a performance of “Ain’t No Grave,” a song composed by twelve-year-old Claude Ely in 1934 when he was sick with tuberculosis, but it is believed to be inspired by an African American gospel song of the same period.  The song, which seems to be made for the story, forms the backbone of the musical score, weaving its way throughout.

The Rep put together an incredible cast, filled with local and regional actors who are steeped in Shakespeare (but honestly, they had me at Nate Burger).  Two years ago, The Rep did an excellent grunge-inspired version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, also directed by Laura Braza, which featured several members of the cast for R&J, including Nate Burger, Alex Keiper, and Kenneth Hamilton.  Both Laura Rook and Nate Burger have been Core Members at American Players Theatre in Spring Green for over a decade, where Shakespeare is always a part of the season lineup.  Milwaukee favorites Matt Daniels (who has taught Shakespeare to several generations of kids with at First Stage) and Dimonte Henning (who just directed a production of R&J this past season at Door Shakespeare) both delivered incredible performances in this show, as usual, but newcomers Piper Jean Bailey and Mathew C. Yee as Juliet and Mercutio were simply beyond impressive in both their acting and their singing and playing.  Rep Emerging Professional Resident Actors Gabriel Armstrong, Giselle, and Davis Wood rounded out the cast nicely.
​
While construction is underway at the new Associated Bank Theater Center, this show will take place at the Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall, housed inside the Marcus Performing Arts Center,  located just one block away from from Milwaukee Rep and the Associated Bank River Center.  Though it’s no Quadracci Theater, it does the job.  For those who have never seen a performance of Romeo & Juliet, this is the one.  The southern dialect lends itself to Shakespeare’s words so wonderfully, making it even easier for audiences to understand; furthermore, this line-up of actors is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity you do not want to miss.
 
ROMEO & JULIET runs through March 30th at the Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall located inside the Marcus Performing Arts Center at 929 N. Water St. in downtown Milwaukee. To purchase tickets, go to www.MilwaukeeRep.com, call the Ticket Office at 414-224-9490 or visit in person at 108 E Wells Street in Downtown Milwaukee.  For more information, please visit www.MilwaukeeRep.com.
​
 
About Milwaukee Repertory Theater
Milwaukee Rep is the largest performing arts organization in Wisconsin with its new artistic home in the Associated Bank Theater Center opening Fall 2025 with three unique performance venues –the Ellen & Joe Checota Powerhouse Theater, Herro-Franke Studio Theater and Stackner Cabaret.  For over seven decades, Milwaukee Rep has been a centerpiece of Milwaukee’s vibrant arts and cultural scene with productions ranging from Broadway musicals to Shakespeare to American Classics and New Works that are entertaining, inclusive and impactful.  Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mark Clements and Executive Director Chad Bauman, Milwaukee Repertory Theater ignites positive change in the cultural, social and economic vitality of its community by creating world-class theater experiences that entertain, provoke and inspire meaningful dialogue among an audience representative of Milwaukee’s rich diversity. More information is available at www.MilwaukeeRep.com



​