Directing Romeo and Juliet, with Sam Gold

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.7 • 837 Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2024

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

2024 has been the year of the iconic lovers Romeo and Juliet, and director Sam Gold has brought a bold new production of the timeless tragedy to Broadway. With a fresh, contemporary approach, Gold transforms Shakespeare’s classic love story into an immersive experience that features a dynamic young cast led by Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) and Kit Connor (Heartstopper) and an innovative score by Grammy-winning musician Jack Antonoff, blending live music seamlessly into the action. Gold discusses how he re-envisioned the play for today’s world, capturing the urgency and intensity of youth while staying true to the emotional heart of the original. He reflects on the challenges and joys of reinterpreting a well-known story and shares the creative process behind staging a Romeo and Juliet that feels relevant to a whole new generation of theatergoers, many of whom may be seeing their first Broadway. Sam Gold is a Tony Award-winning director with an extensive Broadway and theater resume. His Broadway credits include An Enemy of the People (this season) with Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli, Macbeth with Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga, King Lear with Glenda Jackson, A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Tony Award Nomination), The Glass Menagerie, Fun Home (Tony Award), The Real Thing, The Realistic Joneses, and Seminar. Recent credits include Hamlet at The Public Theater, Othello at New York Theatre Workshop, The Flick (Lucille Lortel Award nomination) at Playwrights Horizons, Barrow Street Theatre, and the National Theatre, The Glass Menagerie (Toneelgroep, Amsterdam), John (Signature Theatre; Obie Award, Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominations), The Village Bike (MCC Theatre), and Uncle Vanya (Soho Repertory Theatre; Drama Desk nomination), among many others. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published December 16, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the Folger's Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited. I'm Barbara Bove.
0:08.5	We might not have noticed it, but it's been a really Romeo and Juliet year. Shakespeare's
0:14.5	Globe kicked 2024 off with a modern dress production. Then Tom Holland played Romeo in London's West End. Then there was Diane
0:22.5	Paulus's production at ART, and the Folger Theatre launched its current season with the Star Cross
0:28.2	lovers as well. And of course, the Jukebox musical and Juliet is still rolling along on Broadway.
0:35.4	That show picks up where Shakespeare's play left off and sets its action
0:39.2	to the music of pop super producer Max Martin.
0:52.0	Now along comes another production of Romeo and Juliet, also on Broadway.
0:59.1	This one stars Kit Connor as Romeo and Rachel Zegler as Juliet,
1:04.0	with music by another pop super producer, Jack Antinoff.
1:08.3	Here's Zegler as Juliet singing Antenoff's song,
1:11.3	Man of the House.
1:13.9	Do you have doubts?
1:16.7	I curse your name.
1:18.0	It brought me painting now.
1:22.3	Without you, I don't know how to be.
1:28.3	It hurts so bad it brings me to me.
1:32.3	As you've probably already caught on, this Romeo and Juliet has a very contemporary vibe,
1:37.3	much more Bushwick than Verona.
1:40.3	It's directed by Sam Gold.
1:42.3	Gold's probably best known for his work with contemporary playwrights like Annie Baker and Lisa Crone.
1:48.2	But over the last eight years, Gold has taken on five of Shakespeare's tragedies, Othello, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and now Romeo and Juliet.
	...

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