Masuccio Salernitano may not be among the first names that comes to mind when discussing Great Playwrights of the World, but a play he penned in 1476, Mariotto and Gianozza, became the springboard for one of the most recognizable and popular stories that ever captured our collective imagination, namely, Romeo and Juliet. Like the Hatfields and the McCoys, the Montagues and Capulets were bitterly feuding rivals and the story of the spark of love that lep’t between one child from each family leaps to us from generation to generation. Almost anyone can tell you what happens in the story. But what is this story about? Is it about love, death, love & death? Is it about fate steering our destinies? (Romeo and Juliet – the “star-cross’d lovers.”) Is it about astrological time and life’s passages? The need to resolve our differences? Maybe it’s about how an obscure play by an obscure writer can, with the right touches, be transmogrified into an eternal story. Many great lessons present themselves for consideration.

There have certainly been enough artists to give us their take on the story. A sampling of the works might be in order here: William Shakespeare’s play (Romeo and Juliet) is a gold standard among theatrical repertoire; there are ballets from Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev; operas by Bellini (I Capuleti ed i Montecchi), Gounod (Romeo et Juliette) and Delius (A Village Romeo and Juliet); a musical by Leonard Bernstein (Westside Story) and even a comedy (Romanoff and Juliet) along with countless movies. Like any universal story, it can appeal to any age and offer differing insights to different ages.

In Gounod’s Romeo & Juliette, a 19th century Juliette tells us of her ecstatic love of life in the opera’s most famous aria Je veux vivre! (I want to live!). Fast forward to the latter half of the 20th century and we hear Peggy Lee sing: “Romeo loved Juliet / Juliet felt the same / When he put his arms around her / He said Juliet, baby, you’re my flame / Thou givest fever …” With ROC’s upcoming R&J, we’re eager to get the fever.