Word: mercutio
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...entire ballet. The pas de deux in the balcony scene, though beautifully executed, lacks emotional resonance. It is immediately apparent when Pelzig felt at ease versus when he strained to create a moment or a scene. In the group dances featuring Romeo and his kinsman and friends Benvolio and Mercutio, the variations for the men are forced and shallow. It is only when the men are character-acting that the steps and movements become lively...
Pelzig's greatest success is in the role of Mercutio, brilliantly performed by Robert Wallace, because it succeeds in incorporating humorous acting with a healthy dose of solid ballet--something that seems missing everywhere else. Wallace is a delight to watch as he dances drunk, pirouettes, and step-dances off a stone bench; one wishes he were given the opportunity to dance the role of Romeo...
...real stars of the evening are Andrew Barth, as Iago and Romeo, and Stephanie Smith as Mercutio and Desdemona. It is tempting to imagine them as Viola and Malvolio or Beatrice and Benedick in some future HRDC production. Barth is wonderfully vicious as Iago, and his Romeo, while predictably over-the-top, retains more grace and wit than the buffoonish comedy demands Smith's comic zeal and exuberance make her the focus of every scene she is in; her Mercutio is delightful, and her Desdemona is as perfect a performance of that sadly banal role as could be imagined...
...fine are the performances of Jerome Preston Bates as Floyd, who makes us care about the tortured soul that lies beneath a veneer of strut and swagger; Viola Davis, an eloquent and unaffected Vera; and Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who plays the sweet-natured, joyous Canewell as a sort of Mercutio to the lovers' Romeo and Juliet...