In its return visit to Forest Park, “Romeo and Zooliet” is a little later and further west than last year, but the clever show and its marvelous puppets are every bit as welcome and entertaining as before.
St. Louis Shakespeare Festival premiered the play in August 2025 at the St. Louis Zoo. The revival is being present at the festival’s home, Shakespeare Glen, between the zoo and the art museum.
The delightful play by Jennifer Joan Thompson is about zoo animals who are putting on their own version of Shakespeare’s play after the keepers have gone home. The script is based on “The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents Romeo and Juliet,” a 2015 graphic novel written by Ian Lendler and illustrated by Zack Giallongo. The setting, of course, has been changed to the St. Louis Zoo.
Instead of a feud between families, the conflict at the zoo is between two classes of animals: plant eaters (herbivores) and meat eaters (carnivores and omnivores). Romeo and Juliet try to bridge this gap. Romeo, a prairie dog, is an herbivore. Juliet, a bear, is reluctant omnivore who prefers sticking to plants.
Juliet is at odds with her mother, Lady Capulet, who resents that living in a zoo stunted her hunting instinct. To keep the same fate from befalling her daughter, Lady Capulet arranges a play date for Juliet with a crocodile named Paris. The trouble with this plan is that the carnivorous Paris is more interested in preying on Juliet than playing with her.
Romeo and Juliet meet when he crashes a meat eaters–only party. Their relationship is one that children can understand—a friendship rather than a romance. Thompson’s adaptation is kid-friendly in every detail. Romeo and Juliet want to be best friends forever rather than lovers. Mercutio loses fur, not his life, in his class with Tybalt. The apothecary’s potion causes early hibernation instead of death.
The zoo animals are represented by the same puppets as last year. They are as wondrous as you would expect from Michael Curry Design, the company that created the puppets for “The Lion King” on Broadway.
This year’s script puts more emphasis on humor than before. The changes are for the better. The performances and puppetry are delightful throughout. The adults in the cast are:
- Tiélere Cheatem as Lady Capulet (grizzly bear)
- Rae Davis as Tybalt (tiger)
- Frankie Ferrari as the nurse and the apothecary (hippo)
- Ricki Franklin as Juliet (grizzly bear cub)
- Caleb D. Long as Friar Laurence (owl)
- Jordan Moore as Romeo (prairie dog)
- Jacob Schmidt as Mercutio (red panda) and Friar John (tortoise)
- Zay Williams as the prince (sea lion) and Paris (crocodile)
As the penguin children watching and commenting on the play, Bryce Cleveland and Rian Page alternate as Puff, and Lyla Faiella Simpson and Sola Toure alternate as Penny.
Scott C. Neale’s scenic design honors the play’s setting in the zoo and its origin in the Elizabethan theater. The original props are by Eric Barnes, with additional props by Katie Orr. Raquel Adorno’s costumes nicely complement the operators’ puppets. Denisse Chavez’s lighting kicked in deftly as the sun set during the opening performance, which began at 6:30 p.m.
The play’s pleasing soundscape includes the work of sound designer Amanda Werre, original sound designer Stephen Ptacekvery, and an array of well-chosen music. The composer is Jeffrey “JQ” Qaiyum; the music director is Larry Pry. The two credited songs are:
- “Just Like Romeo and ZOOliet,” produced by JQ, with background vocalist Sophie Dimitroff and trumpeter Marques Carroll
- “(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet” by Freddie Gorman and Bob Hamilton.
“Romeo and Zooliet” continues through October 11, 2026, in Shakespeare Glen, 6604 Fine Arts Drive, in Forest Park.
—Gerry Kowarsky
Photo by Theo Welling
From the left, Mercutio, a red panda (Jacob Schmidt), fencing with Tybalt, a tiger (Rae Davis), in “Romeo and Zooliet.”
