Romeo et Juliette
Romeo et Juliette
- Composer: Charles Gounod
- Location: Immling Festival
- Conductor: Cornelia von Kerssenbrock
- Director: Michael Sturm
- Set and costumes: Sebastian Ellrich
- Light: Arndt Sellentin
- Choreography: Günther Grollitsch, Fabián Aimar
About the project
Grazing alpacas, calling peacocks and retired horses, plus people dancing, playing and singing, all chorally linked to form a strangely harmonious soundscape between the paddock and the temple of the muses. In the temple, Max is tinkering with oversized illuminated letters on the stage, Sebastian is pushing needle and thread through the fine white costume in front of the control tower, Ludwig is sitting in the back rows of chairs, observing with his sick dog, the choir and soloists are getting themselves going by dancing the Charleston – Günther sets the steps and Sturm shakes his head rhythmically, Georg swings along on his laptop, Johanna takes the shrill photos and Michael ceremoniously performs his duties and everyone’s performances. Lasse keeps an overview and Cornelia outshines everything with her grounded rhythm in sunny calm. “A day like gold” – that’s how Immling ticked on rehearsal days, that’s how it was on the green hill in Chiemgau.
Press
“In the riding hall, which can hold 730 spectators, the five-act play directed by Michael Sturm unfolded like a modern crime thriller in a simple but stringently modern look that suits the narrative (stage and set design: Sebastian Ellrich), in which the letters R and J, an obvious heart and cross, and an anchor are omnipresent, the latter presumably representing the hope that one has for the couple until the end. The fact that these elements run through the entire performance does not detract from the whole thing, thanks to the atmospheric lighting that repeatedly illuminates the scenes in an atmospheric way. And since this Romeo and his Juliet are fighting for the continuation of their relationship in a modern age, the famous conversation under Juliet’s balcony sometimes takes place over the phone – surprisingly intimate and touching.”
Y. Han, Opernglas, 9/2024
“…Leonardo Sánchez as Roméo. He has mingled with the party crowd uninvited as a Chaplin imitation and is a real dream cast with his stunningly sensual and gripping performance. He is not acting, but is truly combative, desperately loving, yearning and flattering. The balcony scene becomes a telephone scene, strange but nevertheless moving – inner closeness overcomes spatial distance. The minimalist stage design (Sebastian Ellrich) requires little imagination, it literally takes the viewer by surprise: the huge letters “R” and “J”, a heart, a cross and sailor’s anchors symbolizing hope underline the emotional essence of the respective scenes in sophisticated lighting.
That’s all it needs.“
Passauer Neue Presse, Kirsten Benekam
“… Unlike director Michael Sturm, who tries everything to prevent the familiar story from drifting too far into the saccharine or even the pathetic. Sebastian Ellrich’s spartan stage is dominated by the floor-to-ceiling initials of the title couple, in front of which a white-clad party celebrates a lavish ball. Garnished with a little Las Vegas feeling when the lovers are married by a hip-swinging Elvis double, or the trouser role of the page mutates into a showgirl with a feather headdress. Juliette, who appears in a much more stylish version of Björk’s infamous swan dress, is allowed to do a line of coke first. And so it is not always clear whether what we see afterwards is all reality, or perhaps just taking place in a drunken state …”
Münchner Merkur, Tobias Hell
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