Such Sweet Sorrow at Fox Performing Arts Center

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2. Such Sweet Sorrow

The purpose of this production is to inspire youth to learn and know Shakespeare, and be an aide to memorizing his text, through song. "S3" is the entire Balcony Scene, sung verbatim start to end. This newest version and workshop performance is performed by all high school actors!

A musical adaptation of the famous “Balcony Scene” from Romeo & Juliet, “Such Sweet Sorrow” is the name of our fictitious singing competition show, a la The Voice or American Idol, with the teenage contestants up for the roles of Romeo and Juliet, who will star in the upcoming Broadway smash hit, “Romeo and Juliet Rocks!”, a rock-pop opera. The contestants “battle-sing” each other using the verbatim Shakespeare words from start to end, taking turns getting eliminated until the final Romeo & Juliet is revealed. Then we get a sneak peak into what the real Broadway production would look like, complete with opening Prologue “Two Households, both alike in dignity...” There’s even a [few] budding on-set romances, to mirror our Romeos & Juliets here in 2018.

The show’s themes focus on identity, social interaction, friendly competition, belonging, community, and of course, young love, and with a spotlight on their talent. Paired with some surprisingly catchy “tunes”, “Such Sweet Sorrow”, is a fast-paced musical ride that should be classic “edutainment” fun!

This will be the first time the evolving Workshop of Such Sweet Sorrow is performed by actual high school students, or rather, very close to the intended age ranges of Romeo and Juliet. We expect that the nature of many schools being involved will break down walls and rivalries, and bring the arts and theatre students, (those who display extreme potential, passion and discipline for their craft) together to form valuable and lasting bonds as they move forward into their lives and become a strong network to each other.

"Such Sweet Sorrow" (by William Shakespeare and Chris Wade) is being presented by the Riverside Unified School District as their inaugural Honors Theatre Program, with special thanks to the City of Riverside, Live Nation and the Fox Performing Arts Center. "S3" will play one full performance at The Fox at 10am on Wednesday Feb 21st for 1500 students (Middle-High Schools) in the RUSD. This free performance is also open to the public, with limited seating available. There is also another free performance that night (Wed Feb 21st) at 7pm at John W. North Little Theatre in Riverside. www.chriswademusic.com/such-sweet-sorrow

Chris Wade - Composer/Book Writer

Michelle Grotness - Director

Dominique Simone - Choroeographer

Annemarie Guzy - Curator/Producer, RUSD

Janie Hilland - Conductor/Music Superviser

Patricia Scarborough - Shakespeare Coach/Costumes

Anna Hightower - Theatrical Facilitator

Chris MarkerMorse - Theatrical Facilitator

CAST:

Romeos & Juliets:

Arianna Vila

Cameron Webb

Tessa McCormick

Kenson Gomez

Gabriela Anger

Avery Hansberger

Julianne Westbrook

Eric Bruno

Veronica Driscoll

Greg Aguilar

Kaiah Costa

Jamien Brown

Caroline Younglove

Yair Pineda

Mia Prisco

Dancers/Ensemble:

Gilbert Blackston

Nathan Bravo

Jordyn O’Rourke

Jose A.

Diana Ortiz

John Naranjo

MacKenzie Gallager

Lila Morales

Caytana Fyc-Stroger