REVIEW: Hartford Symphony Orchestra, "Romeo & Juliet"

Bushnell, Belding Theater, Hartford, CT

https://hartfordsymphony.org

February 13-15, 2026

by Michael J. Moran

Leave it to the shrewd programming skills of HSO Music Director Carolyn Kuan to present this “theatrical concert,” combining excerpts from William Shakespeare’s 1597 play and music from Sergei Prokofiev’s 1935 ballet, for the fifth “Masterworks” weekend of the HSO’s 2025-2026 season, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

This production, devised and directed by Bill Barclay and performed by actors in his Boston-based Concert Theatre Works, had its world premiere last summer at Tanglewood, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In Hartford, stage designer Diane Healy made imaginative use of the Belding’s front stage, aisles, and balcony, with minimal props by Justin Seward.

Fifteen musical selections from the ballet alternated, and occasionally overlapped, seamlessly with key scenes from the play,
which told its full story in a 90-minute intermission-less show. The star-crossed lovers were played with youthful abandon by Juliana Sass and Jason Bowen, who raced exultantly down several aisles, high-fiving audience members, after Juliet declared her love for him in an enthralling balcony scene.     

Caleb Mayo’s Mercutio and Carmen Lacivita’s Tybalt were well-matched in impetuous bravado. Nigel Gore brought dignity and parental angst to Capulet, Juliet’s father. But the standout supporting cast member was the protean Robert Walsh, who not only played the roles of Juliet’s nurse and Friar Laurence (both were tender and resilient), even changing costumes once mid-scene, but also directed several very realistic (and frightening) sword-fighting scenes. Lightly amplified diction by all the actors was virtually flawless. 

Prokofiev’s cinematic score was projected from the stage with powerful impact by a passionately committed ensemble and conductor. From a heartwarming “Introduction,” two relentless fight scenes, a rousing “Dance of the Knights,” and a rapturous balcony scene, to the infinitely consoling “Death of Juliet,” all sections of the orchestra captured the music’s full emotional depth.

The well-deserved standing ovation from an enraptured multi-generational audience suggested that this hybrid format, in which actors and musicians magnify each other’s skills, can achieve deeper communicative power than either format alone, especially in a venue as intimate as the Belding Theater.

The HSO’s next Masterworks program (March 13-15) will feature guest conductor Kalena Bovell leading music by Smetana, Frank, and Respighi, with Solomiya Ivakhiv as soloist in Mozart’s third violin concerto.