'ROMEO AND JULIET' LIVING, DYING IN 20TH CENTURY.

Byline: Evan Henerson

Theater Critic

Here we go again.

Another instance of love at first sight (twice!), leading to another balcony followed by another street brawl resulting in a pair of unnecessary slayings finally culminating in yet another instance of warring families brought low by tragedy.

Another Romeo, another Juliet. Another case of the supporting characters -- and thank you, Billy S., for writing them that way -- outshining the lovestruck kids.

And another successful notch in its Shakespearean belt for A Noise Within. The company's straight-ahead -- and somewhat longish -- production of "Romeo and Juliet" won't break any new ground.

Does it need to? What playgoer doesn't go in for Montague vs. Capulet no matter what the time, setting or context?

In Michael Murray's production, the period feels vaguely World War II-era. Tybalt Capulet (Kenneth Merckx Jr., also the production's first-rate fight choreographer) is in uniform, as is Juliet's intended, County Paris (Jos Viramontes).

A Nazi salute is given early in the performance and then largely dropped. Lady Capulet (Abby Craden) also gives Tybalt a rather inappropriate kiss to keep him from throwing down on the Montagues at the Capulet feast.

So much for the production's riskiness.

The rest of the way, Murray gives us plenty of romance, revelry and misery.

Led by a fiery and very interesting J. Todd Adams as a cross-dressing Mercutio and Deborah Strang (hilariously brass as the Nurse), the supporting cast is tip-top. Mitchell Edmonds' dominant emotion appears to be confusion rather than rage once Juliet defies him.

As the titular lovers, Steve Coombs and Joy Osmanski do a nice of job of conveying how really innocent these kids are. The early "Oh, #$%#! He's a Montague!" "%

*&! I'm in love with a Capulet!" realizations land lightly, as though neither actor really understands how high the stakes of their romance have become. Small wonder. Osmanski's quite girlish Juliet was frolicking with Strang's Nurse one scene previously.

When corpses start stacking up and things get serious, Coombs and Osmanski's performances deepen, Osmanski's in particular.

Their bedroom farewell is handled with tenderness, and when we watch Osmanski defying her family over the proposed marriage to Paris and resolving to kill herself if she can't escape, all traces of adolescence are obliterated. ("Romeo and Juliet" seems to turn into Juliet's story once the lovers separate.)

Murray's production runs on the long side (2 hours, 40 minutes), but audiences shouldn't feel it.

After so many hundreds of years, the play may beg for experimentation, but straight-

ahead efforts like A Noise Within's clearly have their place as well.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

ROMEO AND JULIET - Three stars

Where: A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale

When: 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. May 20, 8 p.m. May 23-25.

Tickets: $34 to $38. [phone], Ext. 1.

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Photo:

Romeo (Steve Coombs) contemplates suicide by poison after the supposed death of his lady-love, Juliet (Joy Osmanski), in A Noise Within's updated version of Shakespeare's classic.