Rómeó és Júlia

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Name: Roméo et Juliette (French), Romeo es Julia (Hungarian), 로미오와 줄리엣 (Korean), Ромео и Джульетта (Russian), Romeo a Julie (Czech), רומאו ויוליה המחזמר (Hebrew), Romeo y Julieta (Spanish), Romeo e Giulietta (Italian),「ロミオとジュリエット」(Japanese), Romeo en Julia (Dutch), Romeo und Julia (German), Rómeo a Júlia (Slovakian), Romeo i Julia (Polish), Ромео Жульетта (Mongolian)
Abbreviation(s): RetJ, ResJ, RuJ, ReG, etc.
Creator: Gérard Presgurvic
Date(s): January 19, 2001 (first production)
Medium: Musical
Country of Origin: France
External Links: Roméo et Juliette (musical) at Wikipedia
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Roméo et Juliette, also known as Rómeó és Júlia or by other translations and sometimes referred to as Romeo and Juliet: the Musical to avoid confusion, is a musical based around the stage play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It takes the general plot of Romeo and Juliet and sets many parts of it to music. Unlike some musical adaptations of preexisting plays or movies, in addition to telling the central story of the two main characters, it expands significantly on the stories of side characters. In particular, it adds more focus and depth to the characters of Romeo's friends Mercutio and Benvolio and Juliet's cousin Tybalt. It also allots more focus to the parents, especially Lady Capulet and Lady Montague, and to the Nurse.

Some versions feature occasional appearances by "figurative" characters, such as personifications of "death" or "love" as actors, but how much they appear and their exact roles vary significantly between versions, as do other elements of staging. In most versions of the musical, Montagues wear blue and Capulets wear red to make family delineations clear.

Canon and Versions

The musical was originally written in French for performance in Paris. It has been translated many times and performed in many countries, including various European nations, various Asian nations, and Mexico. Translating between languages sometimes requires slight changes rather than a literal translation, especially for songs and poems, and sometimes includes major changes to fit a different vision of the musical. There are also differences in staging between runs and versions. Many fans are more partial to one or another. Many fans are fascinated by the differences between lyrics or versions.

The French Versions

Roméo et Juliette: de la Haine à l'Amour is the original French version. It adds scenes, absent or briefer in the play, to display Lady Montague and Lady Capulet's frustration with the ongoing feud, the Nurse's deep feelings of maternal pride in Juliet, and Lord Capulet's paternal feelings toward Juliet. Mercutio is described as insane and will admit to it but is portrayed as sophisticated and also believes the others are repressed in ways which he is not. Tybalt is frustrated with Verona, feels like a weapon of his family, and secretly harbors an incestuous crush on his cousin Juliet which he does not plan to act on. Cécilia Cara, who plays Juliet, is one the best-liked Juliets in the fandom. A 2019 fandom survey using numerous metrics found that she or Szinetár Dóra was the most popular.

Presgurvic then staged a tour of the musical in Asia which featured a number of new songs and new actors. Additionally, by the time he mounted the 2010 French revival, there had been a number of other productions in different languages. Roméo et Juliette: Les Enfants de Vérone features some of the new songs from the tour and influence from other productions, most notably Romeo und Julia: das Musical. One of the most notable changes is to the character of Mercutio, who gains a new song ("La Reine Mab/Je Rêve") and has some altered lines. It is hinted that he is bisexual and attracted to Tybalt and possibly also Romeo or Benvolio. John Eyzen's portrayal of Mercutio is one of the most popular, though some criticize it as too over-the-top, but many believe that the musical overall is not as good as the original.[1] This makes it divisive in the fandom.

The Hungarian and Romanian Versions

The Hungarian and Romanian versions, which have some differences from each other, have a lot of overlap and both modify the script and story more than most others. The Romanian/Hungarian version rearranges the order of several of the main songs, adds one or two, removes some, and rewrites some significantly to add to and highlight certain themes. It expands on Tybalt and Benvolio, reshapes Mercutio somewhat, and changes the dynamic between the Ladies Capulet and Montague: Tybalt has psychosomatic[2] seizures, which add additional stakes to his emotional volatility; Benvolio is entrusted with bringing a letter to Romeo by Friar Lawrence; Mercutio's solo songs are cut, his mental illness is not mentioned, some new lines for him are added, and his bisexuality is further hinted at by a drunken kiss to Romeo and a stated desire to kiss Benvolio; and the Ladies have more hostile confrontations.[3][4] The symbolic characters, like Death and Love, are omitted, and the Montagues and Capulets are not all firmly delineated by color scheme.

There are many people who are interested in or specifically prefer to focus on "The Hungarian Version", and Rómeó és Júlia, or ResJ, serves as a significant subfandom within the overall fandom.

Other Versions

Romeo e Giulietta - Ama e Cambia il Mondo (ReG), the Italian version, brings in more influence from the original Shakespeare in lines and characterization. It is also known for Mercutio's death scene, in which he passionately kisses Romeo on the lips before dying.

In Romeo und Julia: das Musical, an Austrian production sometimes referred to as German RetJ or RuJ, everyone wears white during the ball scene, which directly influenced costuming in the French revival and indirectly influenced several productions modeled after the revival.

In Japan, there have been multiple productions by both Toho Stage and the Takarazuka Revue. Of the Toho versions, the White version is generally better-received. Though the song order is standard, a number of lyrics are changed in translation to be less suggestive, and the meanings of some (such as "La Reine Mab", which in French is about Mercutio's dreams and in Japanese is about the upcoming Capulet party) are changed entirely.

Fandom

In General

Many fans are specifically interested in Mercutio, Tybalt, or both. The most popular versions of them in fan art are based off their appearances in the French revival or Rómeó és Júlia.

Romeo/Juliet, Bencutio, and Tycutio are the three most common ships, followed at some distance by Romercutio and Montacrew OT3 (Benvolio/Mercutio/Romeo)[5], with the first canon and popular in all, the second found in all subfandoms and dominant in the Toho Stage productions' subfandom, and the third popular in most.

Hungarian Subfandom

This is also often part of the more general foreign language/English Romanian and Hungarian musical theater fandom, which heavily focuses on ResJ, Mozart! Das Musical, Elisabeth Das Musical, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, among other musicals. This is often called "Sparkly Hungarian Fandom" as a joke, since it focuses heavily on the Hungarian Operettszinhaz. The Hungarian Operettszinhaz is regarded as good and frequently provides captions and translations into other languages, such as Russian, German, and English. They also tend to use somewhat more glitter than usual and more fire and pyrotechnic effects on stage, making things "sparkly" and or "bright"-- thus, Sparkly Hungarians.

There are some RPF elements in the fandom, sometimes for the two leads from the original production, Szinetár Dóra and Dolhai Attila, but especially for Szilveszter P. Szabó (referred to by fans as Szpsz or Szil), the singer who plays Tybalt. Szabó, who is well known and liked, tends to be cast as villainous characters, is considered handsome, and has large vocal range (and apparently patience with fans). Though others may have one as well, there are definitely strong arguments for him having a decently sized RPF fandom which feeds into, and perhaps overlaps with, the ResJ fandom. The same may go for Bereczki Zoltán, who plays Mercutio.

In addition to the production tying into a broader Hungarian fandom, ResJ's actors are very popular in the RetJ-focused fandom. A survey found that Zolicutio, Szpsz-Tybalt, and Dolhai's Romeo were the most popular portrayals of their characters by all metrics--the first two by a large margin--and Dóra's Juliet and MÁZS' Benvolio were first by pure average but not by other metrics.[6]

Some fans are specifically interested in Tybalt's disability (a seizure condition), whether from a hurt/comfort or whump angle, wanting to explore disability and its place in society further, or for other reasons, including standard plot reasons.

Example Fanworks

Fandom Introductions

Fanfic

Fanart

Miscellaneous

Archives & Links

References

  1. ^ discourse between @hell-heron and @cto10121
  2. ^ Something I don’t think a lot of people realize is the fact that (I’m pretty sure) Rómeó és Júlia’s Tybalt has psychosomatic seizures, not epileptic. analysis by @giuliettacapuletti
  3. ^ Lady Montague and Lady Capulet in every other version of La Haine: by @is-this-taken-too-questionmark
  4. ^ as a firm believer that fictional women should get to be terrible people, I LOVE how the Hungarian version adapted La Haine so much. by @dramatic-dolphin
  5. ^ RetJ Fandom Survey Results (Part 2) by Alleyskywalker. The surveyor hypothesized that the high rank of the OT3 may have been influenced by people being unsure whether it was meant to be platonic or romantic.
  6. ^ RetJ Fandom Survey Results (Part 1) by Alleyskywalker
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