Romeo & Bernadette: A Musical Tale of Verona & Brooklyn

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If you’re looking for an evening of light Summer entertainment, you should consider Mark Salzman’s delightful musical romp now in an Amas Musical Theatre production at Theater 555. Romeo (Nikita Burshteyn), newly awakened after an overdose of Friar Laurance’s sleeping potion, arrives in 1960’s Brooklyn in search of the Juliet-look-alike he spots in Verona where she is vacationing with her family. She is actually Bernadette Penza (Anna Kostakis), spoiled daughter of mob boss Sal Penza (Carlos Lopez) and his wife Camille (Judy McLane), who never lets her spouse forget that she is Veronese while he is merely Sicilian. Bernadette is soon to be wed to Tito Titone (Zach Schanne), a mobster on the make from Yonkers. When Romeo arrives in Brooklyn, he saves the life of Dino del Canto (Michael Notardonato), son of mob boss Don del Canto (Michael Marotta), who gratefully welcomes him into their family. Of course the Penzas and the del Cantos are archenemies. As they say, complications arise. The silliness of the plot is redeemed by a sterling cast of ten who elevate the material by their commitment to their roles, a tuneful score that Salzman appropriated from Italian opera and popular song, wonderful costumes by Joseph Shrope that define their characters, and unexpected flashes of wit sprinkled through the book. There is a funny language lesson which upends Pygmalion by having Dino teaching Romeo to coarsen his language to be more like Brooklynese. The score has duets, a trio and a quartet that are almost operatic. It’s hard to single out anyone from the excellent cast, but I will mention Burshteyn for his beautiful tenor voice, Kostakis for her limber dance moves, McLane for her vivid acting, Ari Raskin for her liveliness as Bernadette’s friend Donna and Viet Vo for adding depth to the role of family bodyguard. The versatile Troy Valjean Rucker is in a category by himself – he plays six roles, male and female, with aplomb. Director/choreographer Justin Ross Cohen keeps everything moving smoothly. It all adds up to a very pleasant couple of hours. As of today (6/4) it’s on TDF. Running time: two hours ten minutes including intermission.