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Home , Romeo and Juliet, Tybalt

INTERLUDES VIRTUAL CONCERT SERIES

Symphony Tacoma presents & by Prokofiev and Shakespeare Saturday, February 13, 2021 | 7:30 pm

Sarah Ioannides, conductor Tacoma School of the Arts Actors Gabriel McPherson, director and narrator Libby Pastiga, Romeo Annabelle Daniel, Juliet Westley Hackler, Alexandra Vilenius,

Romeo and Juliet Prokofiev

Part I Part II 1. Romeo at the Fountain 1. Dance 2. Morning Dance 2. Friar Lawrence 3. Montagues & Capulets 3. Death of Tybalt 4. Minuet: The Arrival of the Guests 4. Dawn: Part 5. Masks 5. Aubade: Morning Serenade 6. Madrigal 6. Romeo at Juliet’s Tomb 7. Romeo and Juliet Scene 7. The Death of Juliet

Sarah Ioannides, Producer Gabriel McPherson, Co-Producer Timothy E. Little, Video and Visuals Editor Douglas Tourtelot, Recording Engineer Bill Levey, Sound Editing, Mixing and Mastering

Produced with archival footage. Original performance date: Oct. 19, 2019, Pantages Theater, Tacoma WA. Video footage captured from dress rehearsal: Oct. 18, 2019. Additional theatrical footage from Tacoma School of the Arts: Dec. 15, 2018

PERFORMANCE SPONSORS SYNOPSIS

PART I 7. The Balcony Scene Juliet seeks out the friar for help. 1. Romeo at the Fountain (Suite No. 1, Op. 64bis: VI) He gives her a vial containing a (Suite No. 3, Op. 101: I) Juliet’s balcony sleeping that will make her The marketplace in , Juliet appears at her balcony appear to be dead. He will send a As the townspeople gather in and the two confess their love. message to Romeo who will secretly the marketplace, Romeo of the retrieve her after the funeral and take Montague family is trying to win PART II her away to start a new life. Juliet the affections of . 1. Dance returns home to news that her (Suite No. 2, Op. 64ter: IV) wedding to Paris is set for the 2. Morning Dance A square in Verona following day, and she drinks the (Suite No. 3, Op. 101: II) As revelers celebrate a wedding in potion that night. Outside the Capulets’ house the square, Romeo thinks of Juliet. The Capulets are having a ball at Juliet’s gives Romeo a letter 5. Aubade: Morning Serenade (Suite their house. Romeo, Mercutio and that informs him Juliet has agreed No. 3, Op. 101: V) , disguised in masks, plan to be his wife. The Capulets’ garden to join the party in order to see Paris, thinking he will soon marry Rosaline. 2. Friar Lawrence Juliet, serenades her from outside (Suite No. 2, Op. 64ter: Ill) her window. 3. Montagues & Capulets The chapel (Suite No. 2, Op. 64ter: I) Friar Lawrence secretly marries the Capulets’ Home On the streets of Verona lovers hoping that their union will The next morning her parents find A quarrel ensues between Tybalt, end the feud between their two her and believe she is dead. The sad a Capulet, and Mercutio, a families. news puts an end to the wedding Montague. The Capulets and preparations. While her family grieves Montagues, who have been 3. Death of Tybalt and makes funeral arrangements, enemies for generations, begin (Suite No. 1, Op. 64bis: VII) Friar Lawrence’s message to Romeo to fight. Romeo tries to interject. The marketplace never makes it to him. The fight is stopped by the Prince Mercutio encounters Tybalt, who of Verona. is still angry with Romeo for attending 6. Romeo at Juliet’s Tomb the Capulets’ ball. He wants to duel (Suite No. 2, Op. 64ter, VII) 4. Minuet: The Arrival of Romeo, but when Romeo arrives The Capulet vault the Guests and refuses to fight, Mercutio steps Hearing news of Juliet’s death, (Suite No. 1, Op. 64bis: IV) in. Romeo tries to stop the duel but Romeo buys poison and hurries to A masked ball at the Capulets’ causes Mercutio to be stabbed—a Verona, intending to take his own life Romeo and Mercutio learn of fatal wound. Romeo then kills Tybalt at her tomb. He drinks poison and the party and decide to attend in revenge. dies. Juliet awakens to find Romeo in hopes of glimpsing Rosaline. dead by her side. However, Romeo sees Juliet and The Prince takes pity on Romeo and is instantly captivated. instead of having him killed merely 7. The Death of Juliet banishes him from Verona; he must (Suite No. 3, Op. 101: VI) 5. Masks leave before dawn. The Capulet vault (Suite No. 1, Op. 64bis: V) Juliet kills herself in despair. Shortly At the ball 4. Dawn: Romeo and Juliet Part after, the watch arrives with the Mercutio tries to distract Romeo’s (Suite No. 2, Op. 64ter: V) Montague and Capulet families. attention away from Juliet. Tybalt The Capulets’ house, Juliet’s Upon learning what had happened, recognizes Romeo and orders bedroom the two families pledge to end their him to leave. Romeo spends his first and only feud. night with his new bride. At dawn, as 6. Madrigal the household begins to awaken, he (Suite No. 1, Op. 64bis: Ill) quickly leaves. Juliet’s parents enter The Capulets’ garden with Paris whom she refuses to marry. Romeo and Juliet’s first private Her refusal angers her father. encounter.

2 ABOUT THE MUSIC THE PLAYERS *

Sergei Prokofiev Elizabeth (Libby) Patsiga (Romeo) Suites from Romeo and Juliet (1935) is a junior at School of the Arts. The role of Romeo in the 2018 Prokofiev’sRomeo and Juliet has long been production of Romeo and Juliet celebrated as one of the greatest ballet scores, but was her first of eight roles at that wasn’t always the case. Upon its debut and early SOTA to date. performances, the lyrical ballet was met with opposition and eventually shelved. Prokofiev was persuaded to rewrite the originally-specified with a tragic one consistent with the Annabelle Daniel (Juliet) is a Shakespearean source, and Romeo and Juliet finally junior at School of the Arts. She reached the stage in 1938 at the Brno Opera House has acted in many productions in Czechoslovakia. Prokofiev’s first draft of the at Tacoma Youth Theatre, but complete score was not heard until 2008, in a the role of Juliet in the 2018 reconstruction by scholar Simon Morrison. production of Romeo and Juliet was her first role at SOTA. Outside Between 1936 and 1937, while he was waiting for of theatre, she participates in Girl the ballet to be produced, Prokofiev arranged two Scouts and enjoys playing music. orchestral suites and a collection of piano pieces from the score. He also composed a third orchestral Alexandra Vilenius (Tybalt) is a suite in 1946.The suites seem designed to arouse junior at School of the Arts. The interest in the ballet, especially since listeners were role of Tybalt in the 2018 assumed to be familiar with the plot from the production of Romeo and Juliet Shakespearean play. Prokovfiev performed the suites was her first role at SOTA. She is during what would be his last tours in the West: the excited to continue growing as an First Suite in Paris and Chicago (in December 1936 actress through the next two years and January 1937, respectively), and the Second in with the SOTA theatre program. Boston in March 1938. Westley Hackler (Mercutio) is a The movements in each suite were arranged into senior at School of the Arts. This well-balanced sequences with no attempt to retain will be his second time appearing the order of the ballet’s story. Some of the in Romeo and Juliet. He is very movements are heavily edited and some include excited for this new opportunity elements of two or three different scenes from the and would like to thank his ballet, with newly composed transitions. Of the family andfriends for being so three, the Second Suite in particular has a more supportive. clear narrative line when played in its entirety. Gabriel McPherson (Narrator/ This program has been arranged to tell the Romeo Director) is the Director of and Juliet story, with excerpts from Shakespeare’s Theatrical Arts at SOTA. He has text alongside Prokofiev’s three suites ordered to also serves as master teaching correspond with the story’s plot, in essence creating artist, resident director, and a on a literary program. Each resident composer for the movement contains densely interwoven recurring educational programs of Tacoma motives and big, bold musical gestures, with small Arts Live. In his prior life, Gabe interludes of quiet grace. toured with the first national tour and Broadway productions of Mamma Mia! for over Star-crossed though it was in the beginning, two years. He is also a founding member of Seattle- Prokofiev’s version ofRomeo and Juliet has based rock band Doxology. remained a favorite with audiences as both a ballet and an orchestral concert piece since it finally and * Player notes from 2019 production. triumphantly entered the repertoire. 3 COVID-19 RESPONSE

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