‘Shakespeare’s R & J’ at con-con a muddled retelling of the classic tragedy Bob Abelman Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal Shakespeare’s tragic love story “Romeo and Juliet” has proven itself to be a particularly pliable and resilient piece of work. Its story has, among other things, been retold through dance by the Royal Ballet and as an opera at the Théâtre Lyrique, turned into a musical by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim (“West Side Story”), and made into movies featuring zombies (“Warm Bodies”), martial artists (“Romeo Must Die”) and CGI garden figurines (“Gnomeo & Juliet”). Joe Calarco’s abridged reimagining, “Shakespeare’s R & J,” is true to the Elizabethan telling in that it is in play form and features an all-male cast. But it is particularly inspired by a line found in Act 2, Scene 2 of the text – “Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books” – for this tale is told by four boys late at night in the dormitory of a repressive Catholic boarding school. This is an intriguing addition to the Shakespeare-inspired canon, but its lengthy run Off-Broadway suggests that it is a better play than what con-con has put into production. For more of this review, go to: www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/