Berkshires and Buckley

We took my aged but healthy parents to Lenox and had “A weekend.”

Completely enjoyable with cool temperatures and fine restaurants and to top it all off, a great play at Williamstown called THE LAST GOODBYE.

What is it, you ask?

This is a mash-up of Romeo and Juliet, yes, the one by Shakespeare, with the music of the late and extremely talented and one of my all time favorite guys, Jeff Buckley.

At first, I was all, “Come on! This Pride and Prejudice and Zombies shit has gone too far.” Then, well, it grew on me. And by the end, I swear, I have never seen or heard a better Romeo and Juliet and when it comes to New York, you really should see it, or better yet, get thee to the mountains.

The adaptor-director is Michael Kimmel. He was listening to a Jeff Buckley song on his iPod while in rehearsals for Othello and had Shakespeare on his mind and he felt the song fit into a conversation Benvolio has with Romeo. Okay, so maybe a stretch---and one could say this sort of thing about lots of songs. For instance, “I was listening to All the Gold in California by the Gatlin Brothers and I thought, Shit, that would fit perfectly into The Merchant of Venice…”
But, it doesn’t matter where it comes from (and I wish people would not talk so much about where things come from. And can all liner notes be against the law, in general?)---in the end, it was fantastic. Mostly because of the music, arranged by Kris Kukul.

Great cast, with Damon Daunno as Romeo and Kelli Barrett as Juliet. Amazing singers. Young, hot, all of that.

Everyone else, too, sang very well and the harmonies were close and hard and lovely. Plus, the added bonus of Chloe Webb as the Nurse. ‘Cause, why not?

If you are in Williamstown, go check it out. It doesn’t run very long. These summer things never do. But I wanted to share my enthusiasm.

Long rainy drive back on the Taconic. That road needs some shoulders. And I need some new wipers.