Los Angeles Opera 2005

Cast: Rolando Villazon, Anna Netrebko.

Conductor: Frederic Chaslin

“Combine the lover’s white hot intensity with a keenly conceived production ever so adeptly directed by Ian Judge (a man who knows his Shakespeare) and you have a formula for resounding success. It’s a case of perfect timing and the perfect production team all coming together at the ideal moment. It may be a long time before another moment like this arrives.” - Daily Breeze

“It was one of those dream happenstances: a night at the opera wondrously sung by all, conducted and directed with exactly the right spirit, staged with high imagination.” - Variety

“Got sex? The Los Angeles Opera does – at least while its new production of 'Roméo et Juliette' runs. The lovers mad, sometimes unclothed, carnality was merely the most memorable of the production’s charms. Sensitivity – this time to logic and good taste – was also displayed by the production team led by Ian Judge, a company regular." - Daily News

“But notice the stage direction. We are in a play, Shakespeare no less, not an opera. Look at Tybalt taunting, asking for a fight. Romeo and Juliet are clearly loose-limbed kids, able to climb balconies in a single bound, transported by love like a couple of enthusiastic teenagers. (Their scene in bed, played discreetly in the buff, gets well-deserved laughs for its youthful athleticism.) Watch the way Romeo hugs Friar Laurence in gratitude, a child hugging a man. The acting, in short, is superb. In sum, this "Roméo et Juliette" is hours of pleasure and the best production of the season.” - Orange County Register