Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • August 10, 2011 Glen Rock ‘Romeo Meets Juliet’ puts new spin on classic work by John Koster Glen Rock youths and their parents and grandparents enjoyed a new spin on a wellknown work as the Shakespeare Summer Arts Festival presented “Romeo Meets Juliet: Battle of the Bands,” an abridged version of the classic with Elizabethan dialogue punctuated by 21st century narration and dancing. Shakespeare Summer Arts owners Victoria Pero and Katie Diekhaus, assisted by counselors Robyn Frank and Josh Kohane, offered a version of the tale in which no one dies. The dialogue is straight from the Bard, while the narrative covering the deleted Elizabethan text is straight from MTV. “We make sure to make the story told as visual as possible. Each family is dressed in opposing colors to make that divide visible to even the youngest of audience members,” Pero explained. The four-week program involves students from Bergen County, many of whom hail from Haworth and Demarest. The Glen Rock performance, which trimmed the play down to less than an hour with a free-form rock-style dance routine as a finale, never once lost the attention of even the youngest children in the audience. Shakespearean plays are generally trimmed for Hollywood movies. The classic Franco Zeffirelli version of “Romeo and Juliet” that is often shown in high school starred 16-year-old Leonard Whiting and 14-year-old Olivia Hussey as the star-crossed lovers. Zeffirelli provided a Platonic subtext for Romeo and Mercutio (John McEnery) and rendered Tybalt (Michael York) somewhat less vicious than the “prince of cats” was in other versions. Zeffirelli also deleted the scene in which the harmless Count Paris, Juliet’s intended husband, shows up to mourn her at her tomb Glen Rock Mayor John van Keuren said he and the borough council have lent their support to the Aug. 20 fundraiser that will take place at the Glen Rock Municipal Pool from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. “I think local efforts to raise money for national causes are terrific,” Mayor van Keuren said. “These people work hard at it and we’re in full support.” Caitlin Begg of Glen Rock is coordinating the event, in which swimmers may either chose a one-mile measured swim in the pool or chose their own number of laps. Swimmers of all levels and ages are welcome. The goal through sponsorship of laps is a minimum of $50, but larger dona- Swim Across America event gains local officials’ approval Participants at this year’s Shakespeare Summer Arts Festival. tions are encouraged. Volunteers are also requested for registration, set up, cleanup, and lap counting. The Begg family swims in memory of William Begg, who died of Hodgkin’s disease in 1971 at the age of 35. The family has participated in a fundraiser for the past 12 years. Money raised goes to Swim Across America and is used to support cancer research and to benefit hospitals including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York Presbyterian, and the Cancer Support Team. For additional information, contact Caitlin Begg at (201) 675-9330. and Romeo, who also thinks that Juliet is dead, kills Count Paris in a pointless duel. If Shakespeare’s Romeo is somewhat darker and more dangerous than Zeffirelli’s, he seems a regular guy compared to Leonardo di Caprio in “Romeo + Juliet,” directed by Baz Luhrmann, in which the setting is Florida – “Verona Beach” -- Mercutio is a transvestite, and the Montagues and Capulets fight with pistols and submachine guns. The Shakespeare Summer Arts Institute version is also over the top, but in a different way. Grace Spring-Goldberg’s Juliet takes a potion that renders her mute, rather than seemingly dead. At the end, she and Romeo – Gabe Green – flee from both of their plagued houses alive, but unable to argue with one another after he kisses her. Other players were Amber Joy Williams as V’nessa, Alexa Coppola as Heatherr, Emily Wollenberg filling in for Romeo in some scenes, Elena Dongaris as Benvolio, Lauren Henning as Abraham, Renee Gelfand as Balthasar, Trevor Johnson as Tybalt, Amy Sun as both Sampson and Father Larry (Friar Lawrence), Jack Merryman as Gregory and as a non-dead Paris, Maya Bentovim as Capulet, Ariel Vertsman as Lady Capulet, Isabella Scanlan as the nurse, and Brianna Calienes as Mercutio. The quick scene breaks kept the action moving. At the end, the youngest children in the audience got up and danced and pantomimed with the teens in the cast. “Romeo Meets Juliet” may not have been exactly what Shakespeare intended, but it was a rollicking good time for the audience and the actors.