A '60s Set of Star-Crossed Lovers

A rose by any other name may smell just as sweet, but can "Romeo and Juliet" cast the same sweet charms when set in another time and place?

Yes, we all know that it can, even with a different name and a Broadway score, as in "West Side Story." Or with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in modern Verona. The plot, characters and themes of this tale of ill-fated young lovers are universal, timeless and easily grasped. So how does the Tapestry Theatre Company's version -- a black-white love story set in the turbulent 1960s -- match up with other takes on the classic material? Well, it's a good idea but a little weak on the follow-through.

The 1960s seem like the perfect time for "Romeo and Juliet," as baby boomers began to flex their collective muscle and upended not just the culture but the entire country. America had finally awakened and noticed the alarm being rung by its citizens who were tired of being relegated to second- or third-class status because of skin color. Those clashes still reverberate today.

Director Peggy Jones has brought back the music, or at least the part of it represented by the Beatles, and focused on the civil rights struggle by making the Capulets a black family and the Montagues a white family. But she doesn't take the concept much further than that. Mostly, the music is merely brief punctuation between scenes and is not integrated into the story, and the black-white thing is largely irrelevant. Romeo is white and Juliet is black, but no one seems to notice or care. The '60s are symbolized by a few high school kids wearing what they suppose is hippie clothing and marching around with signs emblazoned with such slogans as "Draft beer, not boys." Jones has pulled her punches on this one, and it's too bad.

The potential is realized in several sequences, though, such as when Tybalt (Rashard Harrison) and Mercutio (Cody Crenshaw) duel. Harrison swaggers onstage glowering with lithe power. Highly charismatic, Harrison is dressed the way many of the Black Panthers used to appear in the '60s, and the atmosphere suddenly goes electric as he taunts the white boys. It's a terrific scene. There's a similar feeling during the climactic moments when Juliet takes her poison with movements synchronized to the final moments of the Beatles' "The End," as the drums give way to the repeating piano chord and finally the lyrics, "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" and on to the symphonic finale. The impact of Juliet's action is tremendously magnified, and the moment leaves you breathless and wishing the same care had been taken throughout the play.

For example, for a play wallowing in sex and violence, there is no sensuality onstage. Romeo is played by Alex Avila as an androgynous sprite, and Danielle Eure is brittle and cold as Juliet, rushing through her lines in a monotone. Jones might have done better with her two cast standouts, the aforementioned Harrison and Jacqueline Chase, who gives us a lusty, sensual Benvolio and is seen too little in the title roles.

"Romeo and Juliet," performed by Tapestry Theatre Company, concludes this weekend at the Lee Center's Kauffman Auditorium, 1108 Jefferson St., Alexandria. Showtime is 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. For tickets or information, call 703-960-3398 or visithttp://www.TapestryTheatre.com.