Review: Latino update of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in Minneapolis thrills as ‘Rent’-like musical

In a new take on “Romeo and Juliet,” Juliet has second thoughts about joining Romeo in the afterlife. And with good reason. She and Romeo agree on the need to change the unfair status quo of haves and have-nots, and to heal the age-old grudges that made their love for each other verboten.

There’s a lot more work do, and she’s a can-do go-getter.

This new Juliet is at the center of “Romeo & Juliet: Love in a Time of Hate,” a Latino update on the classic tale running through Sunday at Luminary Arts Center in Minneapolis. She’s not posing or dancing to the latest hooks, but she’s Instragram- and TikTok-ready. As played with electricity by sparkplug actor Paulina Aparicio-Rosales, she has agency and power. She makes the moves on Romeo.

Directors sometimes say that what they like best about William Shakespeare is that he doesn’t talk back. As interpreters have stretched and parsed the Bard’s works every which way over the decades, we can imagine the playwright rolling over in his grave.

Teatro del Pueblo and the Bach Society have given him more reasons to keep rolling.

Alberto Justiniano, who co-directs the show with Harry Waters Jr., has rewritten not only the ending of Shakespeare’s tragedy but much of what precedes it. Juliet has more lines, some drawn from Shakespeare’s sonnets. She sings, although Aparicio-Rosales is more confident in her acting than in bringing character and emotion to her musical numbers.

And this Juliet, a would-be revolutionary, is well matched with the casually debonair Samuel Osborne-Huerta as Romeo.

“Love in a Time of Hate” resets the tragedy in the desert milieu of Nogales, Mexico. There, Romeo is a graffiti artist and Juliet a privileged 16-year-old. The friar who counsels them has been replaced by a personal injury lawyer. And there’s music in the show, songs delivered by the company and by Santi (Isaac Quiroga), a time-traveler from today who sometimes freezes the action and cracks wise on the characters.

It’s all genuinely interesting and engaging stuff that reminds me of an early “Rent.” The live music, led by Marco Real-D’Arbelles, suggests a potential vital show in making. And the company of actors includes some gems. Julia Diaz is particularly commanding as Lady Capulet while Abigail Chagolla brings consolation and understanding to the Nurse.

Ben Bailey delivers a magnetic performance as Mercutio. He interprets the character like a piece of music, and moves to rhythms that he alone is hearing.

“Love in a Time of Hate” feels like something that’s still in development. But it offers thrills now that would perhaps even gladden the ghost of the Bard.

When: 7 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun.

Where: Luminary Arts Center, 700 N. 1st St., Mpls.

Tickets: $35-$39 with pay-what-you-can performances on June 27-28. luminaryartscenter.com.