Marcus Center for the Performing Arts
929 N. Water St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
© Oak Park Journal 

Romeo & Juliet Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts April 25, 26 & 27, 2008 review by Ed Vincent coming soon... Florentine Opera presents Cast & Artist Biographies Georgia Jarman / Giulietta     Marianna Kulikova / Romeo     Kurt Link / Lorenzo     Jamie Offenbach / Capellio     Scott Piper / Tebaldo     Joseph Rescigno / Conductor    Bernard Uzan / Stage Director Cast Biographies The great librettist Arrigo Boito once said, “Who does not love Vincenzo Bellini, does not love music.” Likewise, he who does not love the story of Romeo and Juliet does not know love. Separated by family, drawn irresistibly together by young love’s yearning, Romeo and Juliet sacrifice everything because they are unwilling to sacrifice just one thing – their love for each other. Romeo & Juliet (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) will be sung in Italian with English translations projected above the stage. Romeo & Juliet Synopsis cited from Matthew Boyden Act I Capello, the chief of the Capuleti refuses to agree to a pact through which his daughter Giulietta would marry Romeo of the Montecchi clan, and orders that her marriage to Tebaldo should go ahead immediately.  Romeo fails to persuade Giulietta to elope, and so he and his supporters enter the city and disrupt the marriage celebrations. Act II Giulietta is informed by Lorenzo, the family doctor, that the only way to secure her freedom from Tebaldo is to take a sleeping draught that will give the impression that she is dead.  She will be revived in the family vault, where he and Romeo will be waiting.  The plan backfires when Lorenzo is arrested.  Romeo believes Giulietta to be dead and takes poison but as he lies dying Giulietta wakes up.  Hoping to avert the tragedy Lorenzo rushes in but he is too late: Romeo and Giulietta are lying dead in each other’s arms. Vincenzo Bellini / Composer cited from Matthew Boyden and The New Grove Dictionary of Opera Born in Cantina, Sicily on November 3, 1801, Bellini was the oldest of seven children born to a family of musicians.  Vincenzo was given piano lessons by his father at a very early age and was said to have played marvelously by the age of five.  At seven, his principal composition teacher was his grandfather.  Bellini continued to write music, which was heard in churches and in the salons of the aristocrats and politicians.  Bellini went to Naples in June 1819 to study at the conservatory.  In 1825, out of custom at Naples conservatory, Bellini was the chosen composition student to have one of his works performed for the public.  Bellini and his cast of pupils performed Adelson e Salvini and its success led to a commission for an opera for a gala evening at the Teatro S Carlo.  This opera, Bianca e Fernando was successful in May 1826.  This led to an invitation from La Scala and an introduction to Felice Romani, Italy’s most respected theatrical poet.  This collaboration produced Il pirata, and before long three more masterpieces: I Capuleti e i Montecchi, La Sonnambula, and Norma.  After an opera failure, the relationship between Bellini and Romani collapsed.  Shortly thereafter, an affair with the married Giuditta Turina ended with her husband nearly forcing the composer out of the country.  Bellini fled to London where he assisted in the production of his three operas.  While in Paris, friend Rossini supported Bellini and convinced him to preserve his opera despite the weakness of the text of I puritani.  The work was staged in January 1835, just eight months before Bellini’s death from acute gastroenteritis on September 23, 1835.  http://www.florentineopera.org/

290 (Eisenhower) West to 294 North Toll road (Wisconsin)
94 North to Wisconsin then 794 East to Downtown
Milwaukee.  The road forks and you go to the left, North.
The road turns away from the lake and you are now of the
Expressway.  Proceed west until Water Street.  Turn right,
North, on Water Street and go several blocks north until
you reach the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts
929 N. Water Street.  Parking is across the street and
connected by an above ground crosswalk.