Created by Backyard Cinema in the UK, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet: A Cinematic Experience makes its Melbourne debut, presented by Sony Music Australia, with our very own Nadine Garner as narrator.
The actual film is screened in two halves, broken up by an interval and with live performances bookending each part.
As we take our seats at the grand old Astor cinema, we notice the stage in front of the screen – bookended with neon-lit crosses – has been decorated à la Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet: a jazzed-up pulpit takes pride of place centrestage while the apron is bordered by an abundance of LED candles and foliage.
A choir files onto choral risers on either side of the pulpit while the band sets up stage right. As Romeo + Juliet’s dramatic intro, O Verona, commences, Garner takes her position behind the pulpit dressed in a priest’s habit: “Two households, both alike in dignity…” – she delivers Shakespeare’s text with an appropriate level of drama.
We’re treated to live performances of choice cuts from Romeo + Juliet’s outstanding, multiple-Platinum-certified OST – 1997’s second-highest-selling album in this country – as interpolations of memorable scenes from the cult film grace Astor Theatre’s screen. Bridget A’Beckett rocks out while conducting the choir and band, which is awesome. Highlights include Kym Mazelle’s version of the Candi Staton dance anthem Young Hearts Run Free and Des’ree’s sublime pop ballad Kissing You, enhanced by visuals: Mercutio (Harold Perrineau) performing in drag at a costume ball held at the Capulet’s mansion, and Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Juliet (Claire Danes)’s meet-cute through an enormous fishtank respectively.
Luhrmann’s film adaptation commences with the play’s prologue delivered by a TV news anchor – a stroke of genius. Romeo + Juliet makes an ideal gateway drug to The Bard’s extensive body of work – his use of visuals and pop culture references make Shakespeare’s complex language so accessible! In The Nurse role, Miriam Margolyes makes Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter sing.
The onscreen chemistry between Danes and DiCaprio sizzles, and their costuming has inspired many dress-ups over the years. The late Pete Postlethwaite’s Father Laurence brims with hope and our hearts still sink over the cleverly titled Post Haste courier service’s massive fail.
The late Quindon Tarver, who was aged 14 when he played the film’s lead choirboy, was so integral to the OST’s success, in particular. His performances of Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good) and When Doves Cry remain emotional highpoints of Romeo + Juliet.
Other standout moments from the choir and band include an inspired mashup of Rozalla’s Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good) and Des’ree’s You Gotta Be – not actually in the film or OST, but it still works – and When Doves Cry, which closes proceedings on a poignant note.
Alongside Luhrmann’s bold vision and Romeo + Juliet’s stellar cast, the innovative cinematography, production design and editing make this film worth revisiting time and time again.
Almost 30 years on and experienced in immersive mode, Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet remains a triumph.
