Opera Maine blends anime and Shakespeare for a visually stunning “Roméo et Juliette”

Published: July 8, 2026

Updated: July 8, 2026

Category: Maine News

Author/Source: Sponsored by Opera Maine

Opera Maine blends anime and Shakespeare for a visually stunning “Roméo et Juliette”

100%

At last summer’s production of “Sweeney Todd,” Opera Maine’s artistic director Dona D. Vaughn noticed that some first-time audience members had dressed in Victorian costumes to match the setting of the opera.

“At Opera Maine, we don’t often see that,” Vaughn said, “and when I talked to them, many were gamers and into anime.”

She was struck by the synergy between anime and opera – highly expressive storytelling, powerful visuals and complex characters and situations that resonate with people of all ages and backgrounds. An idea emerged for this year’s production of “Roméo et Juliette,” an 1867 French opera by composer Charles Gounod with libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. When Opera Maine presents what is arguably the world’s best-known tragedy at the end of July, Vaughn will bring a new dynamic to the story and the music. She will be working with 13 principal singers from around the world, 28 chorus members, a full orchestra of 45 and the vibrant visual world of anime.

The production features a cast of internationally renowned opera singers as The Capulets (soprano Denis Vélez as Juliette, bass-baritone Christopher Job as Count Capulet, tenor Maxwell Levy as Tybalt, mezzo-soprano Michelle Blauman as Gertrude, baritone Daniel Illig as Paris, Micah Schroeder as Gregorio, bass Ricardo Lugo as Frère Laurent, bass baritone Tyler Putnam as The Duke) and The Montagues (tenor Kameron Lopreore as Roméo, baritone Laureano Quant as Mercutio, mezzo-soprano Winona Martin as Stephano, tenor Jared Vigue as Benvolio.)

“Maestro Israel Gursky and I wanted to create a heightened sense of reality in every aspect of the production,” she explained, “Anime provides that heightened world. It is filled with the complexity and raw emotion that we also find in ‘Roméo et Juliette.’ When we combine the dreamy, other-worldly visuals with the extraordinary, lush music, the love story, and the tragedy, it moves us and takes us to another world.”

“Getting to mash the Renaissance and anime together is kind of a dream,” said Joel Schaeffer, the show’s hair and makeup designer. He noted anime titles that were inspired by the Bard or dealt in similar Renaissance-era tropes, starting with “Romeo x Juliet” of course, “Blast of T empest” and “Rose of Versailles” among others. Schaeffer said that the techniques he will use are cosplay-oriented rather than typical practices. His Tybalt, inspired by Guts from “Berserk,” will have a wig that “follows the anime trope about powerful, silvery haired swordsmen.” Chorus members’ facial features will be decorated with cat whiskers or stars.

While Schaeffer has specific ideas for his designs, they also have to meet the demands of a large production with a great deal of physical action. The work has to withstand sword fights and passionate kisses.

Fight choreographer Drew Copeland is inspired by “the Verona we are creating where violence is bubbling all around, and fights are where the action explodes.”

Copeland is a member of the Society of American Fight Directors and a gymnastics coach in southern Maine. Theatrical swords are blunted but still heavy, so Copeland says he designs his fight choreography around the performers’ abilities and characters to make the action as believable as possible. In an opera, he also has to consider breathwork if someone is breaking into song after clashing steel.

For “Roméo and Juliette’s” intimate scenes, Copeland said he’s happy the theater world has started to choreograph passion. He helps actors find comfortable positions and timing so the romance and tragedy of the scenes are repeatable.

For longtime opera fans and first-time visitors alike, this “Roméo et Juliette” promises a world of swooning music, fierce looks, and explosive stakes. Whether the audience is there for Shakespeare, anime, live performance, or a passionate love story, Opera Maine opens wide the door.