The Old Globe has announced the cast and creative team for The Last Goodbye, a new musical fusing Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with the incendiary songs of the legendary singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley. Conceived and adapted by Michael Kimmel, the rock musical is directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers (Peter and the Starcatcher, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson). Choreography is by Emmy Award nominee Sonya Tayeh (“So You Think You Can Dance”), and orchestrations, music direction and arrangements are by Kris Kukul. The Last Goodbye will run Sept. 20 – Nov. 3, with opening night set for Sunday, Oct. 6 at 6:30 pm.
The Last Goodbye fuses Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with some of the most thrilling rock music of the past 20 years. That light in yonder window is still the east and Juliet is still the sun…but the sound in her bedchamber is all new: the sweeping, emotional and extraordinarily beautiful songs of the late rock icon Jeff Buckley. This unique work of theater is a remarkable fusion of the classic and the modern, melding Shakespeare’s tragedy, in its original text, with Buckley’s incendiary music, and staged with limitless invention by Alex Timbers, one of the true stage visionaries at work today.
Jay Armstrong Johnson will play Romeo. He was recently seen on Broadway in Hands on a Hardbody as well as with the companies of Catch Me If You Can and Diane Paulus’ Tony Award-winning revival of Hair.
Talisa Friedman will appear as Juliet. She has been featured regionally in Ah, Wilderness! (Arena Stage), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (The Studio Theatre), The Bardy Bunch (New York International Fringe Festival) and the world premiere stage adaptation of Donnie Darko (American Repertory Theater).
The cast will also features Hale Appleman (Mercutio), Stephen Bogardus (Friar Lawrence), Nancy Snow Carr (Lady Montague), Shannon Cochran (Lady Capulet), Brandon Gill (Benvolio), Bryan Scott Johnson (Montague), Eric Morris (Paris), Daniel Oreskes (Capulet), Tonye Patano (Nurse), Wallace Smith (Prince Escalus) and Jeremy Woodard (Tybalt) with James Brown III, Billy Bustamante, Drew Foster, Adam Perry, Steve Schepis and Nik Walker (Ensemble), Megan Carmitchel (Offstage Singer) and Bradley Gibson (Swing).
The creative team includes Christopher Barreca (scenic design), Jennifer Moeller (costume design), Justin Townsend (lighting design), Ken Travis (sound design), Ian Hersey (text consultant), Kate Waters (fight director), Jacob Grigolia-Rosenbaum (associate fight director), and Peter Lawrence (stage manager).
Tickets are currently available by subscription only. Single tickets go on sale Sunday, Aug. 18 at 12 noon, online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or at the box office.
Shakespeare in LA 