Tear Jerker / Romeo et Juliette: De La Haine a l'Amour

• The Nurse's "Et Voilà Qu'elle Aime" is heartrending. She recounts how she devoted her life to Juliette, and how it hurts her to never be called her mother even as her biological parents neglect her.
  Nurse: I'm not her mother, I'm just the one who will cry for her.
• Mercutio's death is also painful.
  • In some versions, his affections towards Romeo are made explicitly romantic, making the latter's reaction and trauma all the more poignant. "Ama E Cambia Il Mondo" even has Mercutio give him a dying kiss.
  Mercutio: I'm dying in the dust, but dying in your arms.
  Gentle Romeo, what will you do without me?
  I die so you may live, but I know you will not.
  I'm crossing to the other side, I'll wait for you there.
  Romeo: Now, who will ever know how much love he held in him?
• Tybalt's death in the Austrian version, surprisingly. Even after the Kick the Dog he was doing by laughing and clapping as Mercutio staggers around the stage giving his death song, and the anticlimactic "keeling over after only one stab from Romeo" demise. The Capulet begging Tybalt to Please Wake Up might have something to do with it, as well as Lady Capulet's unhinged screaming.
• After Tybalt and Mercutio die, the play becomes unrelentingly bleak, and depending on the version, almost hard to watch. Almost every song deals with bereavement, most notably "Duo du Desespoir" which becomes unbearable in hindsight of original Nurse Réjane Perry's untimely death.
• Juliet has two big tearjerkers. The first is "Le Poison", which is full of uncertainty and loneliness and a goodbye to her family. The second is of course, her death song, which is obviously full of grief, but also more bitter and angry than Romeo's death song.
• The duel in the Hungarian proshot becomes very sad by emphasizing Tybalt's inner conflict. With his talk of fate and catatonic demeanor it seems like he believes he has no choice to attack Romeo. Clearly part of him wants the reconciliation Romeo offers, as he allows the man to embrace him and hesitantly takes his offered hand. But when Romeo unwittingly squeezes the self inflicted burn on Tybalt's hand, the fight begins anew. A parallel is drawn between the burn and the feud, as they are both self flagellating behaviors for Tybalt.
• In the Italian production, Benvolio's reaction to finding out Juliet (supposedly) died and his following song about how grief is about to destroy Romeo are heartwrenching. Especially the Big "NO!" at the end.
• Julia flinging herself onto Romeo in the crypt and saying how happy she was that he came. Then he dies in her arms. The waterworks might have started seconds earlier, when she was stirring and rubbing her eyes while Romeo was taking the poison.
• Italian production: Giulietta weakly repeating Romeo's name as he dies. Also, the utter anguish in her voice as she screams for help, and when she flatly refuses to leave with Father Lorenzo.
  • Made even worse by the shots cutting between Romeo's corpse, which bears a peaceful, soft smile ^note even though he died by poisoning, which isn't a pleasant way to go judging by Davide Merlini's coughing and retching just prior, and a grief-stricken Giulietta.
• Tybalt's voice trembling on the word "allein" (alone) in Ich bin schuldlos (C'est pas ma faute).
  • Turns into a tearjerker in hindsight, as the Austrian Romeo would go on to play Prince Rudolf in Elisabeth opposite his Tybalt. His first words onstage, as a child, is an eerie wail of "Allein! So allein! Immer allein!" ^note "Alone! So alone! Always alone!" Like Romeo, Rudolf is a blond nobleman dressed in blue, only son and heir to his house, tormented by an impending dread of Death, and would be Driven to Suicide.
• Romeo holding an unconscious Julia, rocking back and forth, and wailing.
• The Takarazuka versions have Juliette wake up immediately after Romeo dies, and at first she thinks he's asleep. She sings about how happy she is that he's there and how they'll leave Verona and live Happily Ever After... and then she realises he's dead. Sakihi Miyu (Moon 2012, shinko) practically screams the line, "Did you think I was really dead???"
• Love reaching out to the dead protagonists in anguish while Death bows mockingly in her direction.
• Takarazuka Romeo's last word being a whispered "Juliette.", often with a smile.

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