The problem with Shakespeare and any adaptations like this one is that the modern viewer fails to become emotionally connected because the language used is so "unusual" and at times difficult to make sense of. If the language and dialogue used is NOT like REAL language that everyday people use, then NONE of the drama seems REAL enough to feel any real emotions. It's too obvious that the whole piece is STAGED and therefore UNREAL. An effective drama should seem real - like it's really happening or could have really happened just as it is depicted. This is why melodrama is NOT effective. Melodrama is overacting....effected speech and mannerisms. It's NOT REAL....and therefore the audience cannot become emotionally engaged. Having made this point....the actors were all good, young and cute and I would love to have seen them in a really good true to life romantic gay drama. But I absolutely loved the closing song, "You made me love you", a Judy Garland tribute to Clark Gable back in the 1930s.
Review of Private Romeo
