Jeff Buckley Meets William Shakespeare
Romeo (Damon Daunno) and Juliet (Kelly Barrett) in the Williamstown Theatre Festival production of The Last Goodbye. (Photo by Sam Hough)
When The Last Goodbye blossomed on the stage of downtown Manhattan nightspot Joe’s Pub in April 2009, Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? knew director Michael Kimmel (who also conceived and adapted this show) and his collaborators were onto something good. The idea of pairing the lyrics and music of tragic pop star Jeff Buckley with Shakespeare’s story of tragic lovers, Romeo and Juliet, had an instant appeal.
And it took shape well onstage. My mind was blown by that early reading. It went through some changes, was re-presented in New York City this March, and now it’s taking a polished form at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts.
Many members of that original Joe’s Pub cast remain with the show. And that’s for good reason. They’re great.
Word of mouth
We haven’t yet seen this fully staged version, which opened on Saturday and runs through Aug. 20. But the word is very good. A friend of this blog who saw the Joe’s Pub version calls the Williamstown production “quite good,” with “much better integration of the bard’s language.”
Audience reaction was good:
Check out the first review
The first detailed review we’ve found, on the blog This Is Somewhere, is also quite positive.
For more about this show, and details on how you can see it, click through to the jump.
Jo Lampert is Mercutio and the company dance captain.
Kudos in particular to Jo Lampert, a longtime Joe’s Pub/Public Theater staffer and pal of WYMMWIG?, who continues to make a strong impression in this show.
For insights into this production, check out this interview with Kimmel in The Times Union of Albany.
For more photos of this production, check out the gallery posted on the Williamstown Theatre Festival facebook page.
The Last Goodbye. 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 8:30 p.m. Saturday; matinees, 3 p.m. Thursday; 4 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday. Through Aug. 20. $40-$42. Nikos Stage, ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance of Williams College, 1000 Main St., Williamstown, Mass. (413) 597-3400; http://www.wtfestival.org/
Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? 
Thanks for the blog link to my review. Yes, the production was excellent and was met with a very warm response here. Feel free to ask any questions about the staging and I’ll try to answer if you’re curious.