'Romeo and Juliet' photo is in
If you want to treat your Valentine like the celebrity she (or he) is in your life, here's your red-carpet-and-roses opportunity.
While most of the 400 to 500 theaters nationwide showing "Romeo and Juliet" in high definition this week did so Thursday, you can catch it in East Hampton not only on Valentine's Day but in a setting associated with live theater. Although the latest Broadway revival of Shakespeare's tragic love story for all time was videotaped near the end of its limited-run closing on Dec. 8 -- the producers hope the buzz created by big-screen British heartthrob Orlando Bloom as Romeo and Condola Rashad in the nontraditional casting of a black woman as Juliet will prove a box-office draw. Particularly at movie-theater prices.
"It's perfect for a Valentine's date night," says Barbara Jo Howard, marketing/communications director for Guild Hall, which hosts tonight's screening. "Perfect," even though it ends -- spoiler alert! -- in a double bummer? "There's a lot to be said for being truthful in a relationship," Howard replies. She knows something about romantic plays, having appeared in "The Graduate" and "Love, Loss and What I Wore" for Southampton's Center Stage. Howard organized the red-carpet prelude to tonight's show. Arriving couples will be photographed on Guild Hall's red carpet, the images to be posted on its site (guildhall.org). The first two dozen couples showing up will receive a rose.
THE YOUNG LOVERSBloom has starred in a pair of movie blockbusters,
"Pirates of the Caribbean" and sequels, plus "The Lord of the Rings" and sequels, including "The Hobbit" and its upcoming follow-up. Rashad is a two-time Tony nominee -- for "Stick Fly" and the recent revival of "The Trip to Bountiful." She's the daughter of onetime "Cosby Show" co-star Phylicia Rashad and former football star and sportscaster Ahmad Rashad.
"Romeo and Juliet" producers Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley created a new venture, BroadwayHD, to raise money for this week's screenings. Their goal is to bring Broadway into the 21st century, along with the Metropolitan Opera and the U.K.'s National Theatre, in terms of bringing live simulcasts -- or nearly real-time HD broadcasts -- to a theater near you.
HD STAGE FRIGHTBroadway has dipped its toe into the HD market only sporadically. Producers still fear that widespread screening of live shows will hurt the huge tourist ticket market they now enjoy. Also, it could put a dent in national tours of Broadway hits.
The best chance for success, as Lane and Comley see it, is with limited runs for which Midwesterners, for instance, have little time to book a trip to Manhattan.
But Howard views this HD opportunity more practically: "It's an exquisite cheap date."
At $18, we can't argue.
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Watch live: Polls are now closed on Long Island. Follow along with NewsdayTV's live coverage and analysis of all the election results as they start coming in.