A crew of marvelous puppets are the stars of Romeo and Zooliet, the current offering of St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. The play is a thoroughly delightful, family-friendly rewriting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The festival is presenting the play where it is set: the St. Louis Zoo.

Jennifer Joan Thompson’s script is based on a 2015 graphic novel, The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents Romeo and Juliet, which was written by Ian Lendler and illustrated by Zack Giallongo. The premise of the play and its source is that the animals in the zoo are putting on their own version of Shakespeare’s play after the zookeepers have gone home for the evening.

The fundamental conflict at the zoo is not between feuding families, as in Shakespeare, but between two kinds of animals: the ones who eat only plants (herbivores) and the ones who eat meat (carnivores and omnivores). Romeo and Juliet try to bridge this gap. Romeo, a prairie dog, is an herbivore. Juliet, a bear, is an omnivore, but she is a reluctant omnivore. She doesn’t like the idea of eating meat and would prefer to restrict her diet to plants.

Juliet’s mother, Lady Capulet, has other ideas. She regrets that growing up in a zoo kept her from developing her instinct to hunt. To prevent her daughter from suffering the same fate, Lady Capulet arranges a play date for Juliet with a true carnivore, a crocodile named Paris. His repartee makes it clear to everyone but Lady Capulet that his real interest is not playing with Juliet but preying on her.

Romeo and Juliet meet when he crashes a party her family gives for carnivores. From this point on, Thompson’s script removes elements of the original that are not suitable for children. Romeo and Juliet become BFFs (best friends forever) rather than lovers. The clash between Mercutio and Tybalt results in humiliation, not death. The potion Romeo gets from the apothecary induces early hibernation instead of killing him.

Actors operating puppets portray all the characters except for the zookeepers. The puppets were created by Michael Curry Design, the same company that made the puppets for The Lion King on Broadway. Once again, the Curry team has produced stunningly gorgeous designs that are a joy to behold in operation. The puppets’ realism is all the more astonishing because no fur was used in their creation.

The cast is an excellent group of mostly local actors who have quickly become adept at operating their puppets. The ensemble includes, in alphabetical order:

• Bryce Cleveland as Puff
• Jeff Cummings as Friar Laurence
• Rae Davis as Tybalt, Eagle, and Peter
• Ricki Franklin as Juliet
• Genevieve Mazzoni as Penny
• Jordan Moore as Romeo
• Rian Amirikal Page as Puff
• Jacob Schmidt as Mercutio, Friar John
• Olivia Scicolone as Nurse, Veterinarian Puppeteer, and Kelly
• Ryan Omar Stack as Prince, Paris, and Peter
• Sophia Stogsdill as Penny
• Nisi Sturgis as Lady Capulet, Veterinarian Voice, and Kim

Under Tom Ridgely’s direction, the actors give their characters vivid personalities and bring out both the fun and the serious emotions in the script.

The swings are Daisy Held and Charlie Mathis. Held is covering Juliet, Lady Capulet, Nurse, and Tybalt. Mathes is covering Romeo, Mercutio, Friar Laurence, and Paris.

Scott Neale’s scenic design creates a flexible performance space with the look of a zoo building and a raised platform for the balcony scene. Raquel Adorno’s stylish costumes play an important part in the production because audience can see the actors while they are operating the puppets. The show is enhanced by JQ’s music direction, Jesse Klug’s lighting, and Stephen Ptacek’s sound.

Though the story is crafted for young audience, Thompson’s script is filled with clever lines aimed at adults. The audience responded with great enthusiasm to a compendium of famous Shakespearean quotations spoken near the end of the play.

Romeo and Zooliet is a treat for the entire family. I would not be at all surprising to see productions of this play popping up at theaters and zoos all over the country.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by Theo R. Welling
From the left, Ricki Franklin as Juliet and Jordan Moore as Romeo in Romeo and Zooliet.