The California Shakespeare Theater's opening production, Romeo & Juliet, is in its last three performances today and tomorrow. It's a lively and fun production directed by Jonathan Moscone, complete with contemporary music and Verona teenagers who smoke, drink Jack Daniels, and carry iPods and skateboards wherever they go. Because it's a play about teenagers in love, all these updates work to reinforce the age and temperament of the characters, and performances by Catherine Castellanos as the Nurse (pictured with the charming Sarah Nealis as Juliet) and Jud Williford as Mercutio deserve special shout-outs -- it's always the supporting characters in Shakespeare who steal the show.
Final performances are today at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and tomorrow at 4 p.m. Get tickets here or call the box office at 510.548.9666. And as always you can picnic in the grove beforehand and bring your food and wine into the outdoor amphitheater with you. (CalShakes is especially awesome in nice weather -- just take BART to Orinda and hop the free shuttle bus, or drive out -- it's the second exit on the 24 past the Caldecott tunnel.) Next up on their schedule, a non-Shakespeare production: Noel Coward's Private Lives.