Romeo And Juliet

The star of the student-alumni production of Romeo and Juliet at Howard Community College is the director, MaryBeth Wise. She may not have the Royal Shakespeare Company to work with - classical actors trained in movement, dance, fencing and the speaking of blank verse - but she has turned out a lively and effective show. The great thing about Shakespeare is his universality. His situations and characters can be made relevant to almost any audience in any age. Romeo and Juliet depicts teen-age love in all its headstrong intensity - something we've all experienced or at least witnessed.

Essex students star in `Romeo and Juliet' Cockpit in Court, the summer theater in residence at the Essex campus of the Community College of Baltimore County, opens its 2001 season tonight with "Romeo and Juliet." Directed by Michael McNulty in the outdoor Courtyard Theatre, the Shakespearean tragedy stars CCBC Essex students Johnathan Todd and Hannah Castro as the star-crossed lovers. Here's the rest of the Cockpit season: "Fiddler on the Roof" (June 14-24, Mainstage), "Ain't Misbehavin' " (June 21-July 1, Upstairs Cabaret)

The latest Baltimore Symphony Orchestra program offers music by composers who had something to prove. Tchaikovsky was far from fame when he decided to condense Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" into a single-movement orchestral piece. Dvorak had not yet been accepted as a legitimate composer by the supreme arbiters of culture at the time, the Viennese, when he produced his Symphony No. 6. And Schumann, already inching toward the mental illness that would soon claim him, may have been attempting, at least subconsciously, to show the world that he still had his artistic faculties by writing a concerto for violin.

The Washington Ballet has found a home away from home - in Bel Air. The internationally known dance troupe, recently energized under artistic director Septime Webre, will be in residence at Harford Community College for two years, performing such ambitious new works as "Peter Pan" and "Romeo and Juliet" for Baltimore-area patrons. "Part of the mission of the college is to be a center of cultural arts for Harford County and the region," says HCC president Claudia Chiesi. The partnership between the ballet and college begins this weekend.

An obscure chamber opera about Romeo and Juliet; a piece for orchestra and fire trucks (yes, fire trucks); blues, Broadway and Beatles - it all adds up to the second River Concert Series at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Six free weekend concerts will be performed al fresco this summer along the banks of the St. Mary's River. The picturesque Southern Maryland site is expected to draw thousands of picnic basket-toting folks to the events, as it did last summer. That prediction comes from Jeff Silberschlag, music director of the Chesapeake Chamber Orchestra, which is the backbone of the concert series.

"Split Decision," a fantastic work that had its premiere by the Ballet Theatre of Annapolis last weekend, was a demanding tour de force for each of the four male dancers it showcased. An exciting contest of classical and jazz movements well suited to contemporary French composer Claude Bolling's music, the choreography by artistic director Edward Stewart asked a lot of Dmitry Malikov and Andrey Shevaldin, who are new to the ballet this season from Moscow; principal dancer Dmitry Tuboltsev; and soloist Jeffrey Watson.

A fully staged three-act ballet of Serge Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet," danced by the Ballet de l'Opera de Bordeaux, will be presented at 7: 30 p.m. Wednesday in the Naval Academy's Distinguished Artists Series, at midpoint in its season. Sometimes described as the greatest ballet score ever written, Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" should find the consummate interpretation by this pre-eminent dance company. With recurring opera-like motifs to suggest each character's emotions, the score was originally criticized for not conveying love.

Shakespeare was born in April, the Lover's Month, 435 years ago.The man who wrote "Romeo and Juliet" had the good sense to come into the world in the spring when an extraordinary number of natural aphrodisiacs (if you believe the folklore of love) are at their sensational seasonal peak.Asparagus, fennel, fresh greens and spring chickens, all traditionally believed to increase the joys of the heart, are plentiful in the market. Young herbs -- the first of the parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme of the old love charm -- are beckoning from garden centers.