GRUPO GALPÂO: Romeu & Julieta na Praça do Papa

After appearing almost unrecognizable—significantly thinner—in the Christmas episode of Sai de Baixo, where he played Santa Claus, Milton faced criticism about his weight loss, which even sparked media rumors that he might have HIV. He decided to step away for a while and focus on creating his next work, Nascimento. To promote the album, he developed a tour with Gabriel Villela. With sets designed by Villela and Milton himself directing, the show symbolized the singer’s own rebirth. Dancers who also played percussion surrounded him onstage, performing around a giant drum at the center—an altar-like platform where Milton remained throughout the performance.

Grupo Galpão’s Romeu e Julieta (1992), directed by Gabriel Villela, is an intercultural adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a production that intentionally draws on a range of popular practices such as street theatre, circus performance and the tradition of the commedia dell’arte, as well as on elements from the cultural imaginary of Minas Gerais in southeast Brazil.