Rodeo and Julie-Ed

Rodeo and Julie-Ed (1999)

Peter Skagen

Link to Online Anthology
Link to Peter Skagen Interview
Link to Database

Clips from Peter Skagen's musical theatre, dinner and dance adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, done country-western style, with a dash of the feuding Hatfields and McCoys thrown in. Skagen's Rodeo and Julie-Ed, then, an "interactive dinner theatre and barn dance," resituates not only Romeo and Juliet , but also the Hatfields and the McCoys into a Western Canadian context, the entire premise of interactive dinner theatre of its sort being the mix of the cast with the audience in the here and now of the theatrical moment. The blending of a touchstone Shakespeare play like Romeo and Juliet with well-known American historical narratives in Western Canada perhaps signals the kinds of theatrical gestures that work best in the commercial contexts of dinner theatre, where financial exigencies, in large part, drive the content of performances.

Audio Clip: "Ferris and Julie-Ed"
In this clip, Julie-Ed is introduced to the audience and Ferris declares his love to the tune of "Copacabana."

Link to Online Anthology
Link to Peter Skagen Interview
Link to Database
Link to Streaming Video

CASP gratefully acknowledges Peter Skagen's permission to publish this clip to its website.

---