Laura Woods’s rendition of the renowned love story, “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, proved itself to be righteous and entertaining. But it was a tad bit away from reaching perfection.

Before the play started, sophomore Jordan Limesand and junior Laura Augustinsky were setting the periodic tone on stage. Both wearing velvet black jackets that gave a real greaser vibe. The two actors were in character for the first twenty minutes before the show. They only exchanged conversation to each other amongst the backdrop of spray paint graffiti, leaving themselves to be viewed first by the audience’s eye before show. Although ambitious, the two succeed into setting the atmosphere before the play even started.

Woods’s remastered version of the Shakespearean classic took place in the 1950s in Las Vegas, and the production really wanted to make that known amongst the audience, so much that after every scene you heard classics from the top 20 music list from the 50’s like Frank Sinatra to Hoagy Carmichael being blasted through the speakers. This became very repetitive quickly and almost seemed as if the time period was being shoved down the audience’s throat. It was nice at first but it seem to really drag out the chosen time period.

Right off the bat it is established that the Capulets are apart of the city’s mafia and the Montagues try to provide a symbol of authority as a police force. The show started off strongly with an exciting fight scenes and an exquisite performances by sophomore Julian Webber (Balthasar), senior Meredith Williams (The Queen), and junior River Moore (Tybalt).

Throughout Act One there is a noticeable amount of nervous energy amongst the actors. The pacing was very quick and it almost felt rushed. However, after the memorable death scene of Mercutio the nervous energy seemed to fade away. After the dramatic performances by Moore, junior Danaka Katovich (Mercutio), junior Kieran O’Connor (Benvolio), and senior Logan Rains (Romeo) the audience went dead quiet, and not just any kind of quiet. That silence was one of amazement towards the actors, this is when the play really hooked its audience.

After Mercutio’s death scene the performances were truly impressive, it really began to flow with the actors. The pacing was timed very nicely and it was more apparent that the actors felt more comfortable in the skins of their characters. With even more phenomenal performances by senior Hannah Chylinski (Nurse), junior Brennan Osborn (Friar Lawrence), senior Jon Dadgari (Lord Capulet), senior Taylor Karst (Lady Capulet),and  senior Avery Massa (Juliet).

Act two was determined to be an improvement from act one.

There is something very special about Cal High’s production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ that myself; as an audience member, couldn’t put my finger on until after the play was over.

Every character had depth to them. To the minor role of a scared watchmen portrayed by junior Veronica Pichler, to Balthasar, who was secretly in love with Romeo, and to Lady Capulet, who was disgusted to be married to the abusive and power hungry Lord Capulet.

All acting aside the show also provided top-notch set design, props, stage direction, and sound management. However the costume design was basic and too safe, it would have been more effective if the costumes were more angled towards the specific characters.

When looking back at “Romeo and Juliet” it is determined that the Cal High theatre department put on quite a show that was both amazing and entertaining, however, it didn’t quite meet to the potential it could have reached that would have been perfection.