By MATTHEW GUREWITSCH [NY Times, 13 November 2005]
IN late October, several levels below the stage at the Metropolitan Opera House, chorus and dancers in Renaissance masks and motley rehearsal clothes were getting up to speed for the ball in Guy Joosten’s new production of Charles Gounod’s “RomÈo et Juliette,” which opens Monday. Off to one side, barely noticed, a tiny creature knelt on the floor clutching a dagger in both hands. Suddenly, she plunged it into the pit of her stomach – then again and again and again, with fierce concentration, stifling a gasp each time.