A Shakespearean romantic tragedy continues the summer theater series at PA Shakespeare Festival and a rock musical with youth musicians opens at Pines Dinner Theatre.<\/p>\n
PA Shakespeare Festival presents \u201cRomeo and Juliet,\u201d July 8 to July 29, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchool of Rock\u201d runs July 9 to Aug. 22, Shops at Cedar Point, Allentown.<\/p>\n
An ancient feud divides the Montagues and Capulets, until Romeo (Austin Nedrow) and Juliet (Maya Jean) meet and fall in love. Their secret marriage defies generations of bloodshed. But in a world poisoned by hatred, even the most transcendent love cannot escape fate.<\/p>\n
From the\u202feuphoric heights of a moonlit balcony\u202fto the\u202fstifling darkness of a tomb, Shakespeare\u2019s most iconic tragedy races toward its devastating conclusion. This is a story that asks whether love can ever truly conquer hate.<\/p>\n
Director Jason King Jones, PSF Artistic Director, says the production is set in a Verona \u201cthat maps deliberately onto our own moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe design marries ancient architecture to contemporary signage, neon burning against centuries-old stone, because Verona today is genuinely that kind of city: cosmopolitan, multilingual, layered with competing cultures and histories, not unlike Renaissance Verona when trade routes brought the whole known world through its streets,\u201d Jones says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe collision of past and present isn\u2019t aesthetic whimsy. It\u2019s the play\u2019s actual argument, that these hatreds are neither new nor resolved, that the city keeps rebuilding itself around the same unexamined wound,\u201d says Jones.<\/p>\n
The cast includes Tyler Borneo, Arrianna Daniels, Maboud Ebrahimzadeht, Doug Hara, Darin F. Earl II, Terrance Fleming, Eli Lynn, Teddy Novak, Suzanne O\u2019Donnell, Ian Merrill Peakes, Karen Peakes, Ryan Plunkett, India Proffit, Shawn Taylor, Cassia Thompson, Mark Yowakim, Jamir Fisher, Mariana Marcel and Mayrali Melendez.<\/p>\n
The production\u2019s creative team includes Brian Sidney Bembridge, scenic designer; Nancy L. Leary, costume designer; Thom Weaver, lighting designer; David M. Greenberg, sound designer, and Cedric Lamar, composer.<\/p>\n
Meet the actors for a talk-back after the July 30 performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cRomeo and Juliet\u201d is recommended for ages 12 and up.<\/p>\n
There is an audio-described for the blind or visually-impaired and open captioning for the deaf or hard-of-hearing performance, 2 p.m. July 25.<\/p>\n
\u201cRomeo and Juliet\u201d is in repertory with \u201cKen Ludwig\u2019s Moriarty,\u201d which runs July 16 to Aug. 1. The two shows are performed by some of the same cast on the same stage on alternating days.<\/p>\n
\u201cRomeo and Juliet,\u201d 7:30 p.m. July 8, 9, 10, 15, 22, 24, 20, Aug. 1; 6:30 p.m. July 14; 2 p.m. July 19, 25, 29, PA Shakespeare Festival, Main Stage Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley. 610-282-9455, https:\/\/pashakespeare.org\/<\/p>\n
\u201cSchool of Rock,\u201d with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and based on the 2003 film of the same title, tells the story of Dewey Finn (Ryan Daniels) a failed, wannabe rock star who decides to earn extra cash as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. He turns a class of straight A, musically-talented students into a rock band and has to get them into \u201cThe Battle of the Bands\u201d without their parents and the school\u2019s headmistress finding out.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchool of Rock\u201d opened on Broadway in 2015 and received four Tony nominations, including Best Musical.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis production is a perfect fit for our audiences,\u201d says director Oliver Blatt, Pines\u2019 Artistic Director. \u201cIt combines the excitement of live music with a heartfelt story and showcases an extraordinary cast of performers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The production has two alternating youth casts.<\/p>\n
The youth cast includes Mia Moyer, Keagan Frendt, Zori Sawyer, Edan Silver, Zoe Silver, Hunter Mark, Harper Carlo, Hailey Grubb, Alexander Pizolato, Jack Yost, Caleb Cruz, Addie Speakman, Vivienne Escoto, Adler Shappell, Dani Loccarini, Yaxuel Velazquez and Adleigh Burdine.<\/p>\n
The adult cast is performing the entire run.<\/p>\n
The adult cast includes Ashley Hoberman, Max Evans, Christina Freeman, Michael Lutterschmidt, Meghan McGorry, Ryan Domalewski, Moriah Faith, Connor Sternberg. Tyler Pelton, Lily Levine and Dan VanArsdale.<\/p>\n
Food and beverages are ala carte.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchool of Rock,\u201d Noon, dinner; 1:30 p.m., show, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays; 6 p.m., dinner; 7:30 p.m., show, Fridays; noon, dinner; 1:30 p.m., show; 6 p.m., dinner; 7:30 p.m., show, Saturdays, July 8 to Aug. 22, Pines Dinner Theatre, 315 S. Cedar Crest Boulevard, Allentown. 610-433-2333, https:\/\/www.pinesdinnertheatre.com\/<\/p>\n
\u201cCurtain Rises\u201d is a column about the theater, stage shows, the actors in them and the directors and artists who make them happen. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY KELSEY VALENTEMaya Jean (Juliet), Austin Nedrow (Romeo), \u201cRomeo and Juliet.\u201d PA Shakespeare Festival.<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTORyan Daniels (Dewey Finn), \u201cSchool of Rock,\u201d Pines Dinner Theatre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Shakespearean romantic tragedy continues the summer theater series at PA Shakespeare Festival and a rock musical with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-240030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}