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The tale of two star-crossed lovers fated for a tragic end may not sound like a great night out on its face, but I think we all know when it’s by William Shakespeare and it’s Romeo & Juliet, it holds great promise.

This is why, like many others, I once again traveled down to Miller Outdoor Theatre for the second opening night of the Houston Shakespeare Festival – this time, braving the temperature and insects to see Romeo & Juliet.

Shakespeare’s classic tale starts with a street brawl erupting on the streets of Verona between the men of the Montague family and those of the Capulets. It’s the third such fight, and the Prince of Verona is not happy about it. In a show of just how unhappy he is, he promises that any more such quarrels will be punished by death.

One young man unbothered by the violence is Romeo, Montague’s son, and that’s because he only has eyes for a woman named Rosaline. Upon learning that Rosaline has been invited to a party hosted by the Capulets, he crashes it. But he meets Juliet, the Capulets’ teenage daughter, there instead, and they quickly become infatuated with each other. Despite learning each other’s identities, they decide to defy their families’ enmity and marry the very next day. Their happiness is short-lived, however, as their actions set off a chain of events that leads to more violence, death, exile, and even more death.

It’s been 17 years since the Houston Shakespeare Festival, produced by the University of Houston’s School of Theatre & Dance and the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts, performed Romeo and Juliet, one of the Bard’s most famous tragedies. It’s supposed that Shakespeare wrote Romeo & Juliet between 1594 and 1596, right around the same time he was working on several others, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which, though used for comedic effect, features a brief retelling of Pyramus and Thisbe, a tragic love story that may or may not have helped inspire Shakespeare’s own. (Not for nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream just happens to be playing in repertory with Romeo & Juliet during this year’s festival.)

From the moment the curtain rises to dramatically reveal the chorus, who delivers the prologue in chill-inducing unison, we know we’re safe in director Jack Young’s hands. Young, who doubles as the production’s sound designer, directs the show with clarity and a keen sense of the show’s comedic notes. Young also displays a keen eye for pacing. Things happen fast, but the choices of when and where to linger are sound.

While you can probably guess by its name, Romeo & Juliet really starts and stops with the casting of its Romeo and Juliet. Luckily, this production boasts wonderful performances from Sophia Marcelle and Kyle Clark.

Marcelle’s Juliet is girlishly sweet, giggly and excitable. In Marcelle’s hands, it’s easy to remember (and believe) Juliet’s youth – not yet 14 years old at the start of the play – both in the giddiness she displays at the first blush of love to the deep despair she falls into as things begin to go so wrong. Clark’s Romeo is just as exuberant in love, so much so that the spotlight could barely keep up with him at times, though it’s tempered throughout with an angsty sincerity. Their chemistry is palpable, and their likeability is off-the-charts.

Supporting the two are more than a dozen talented actors, all breathing such life into the production. As saucy in mannerisms as in dialogue, Alan Brincks fast-talks his way through Mercutio’s dude-bro discourse, holding court in every scene. Laura Frye is a mother hen of sorts as Juliet’s nurse, warm and a touch naughty. The distress and naivety in Avery Kenyatta as the Friar lingers even after he’s left the stage, particularly after his final monologue, and Robby Matlock is barely checked angry as Tybalt.

Michael Sifuentes’s rage at Juliet’s disobedience as Capulet is enough to have the audience flinching, though he and James Cardwell as Montague appear as such pitiable figures at the play’s end. Austin Hanna’s exasperated Prince, Wesley Whitson’s proper Paris, Jack Stansbury’s futile Benvolio, and the humor Andrew Chavez’s injects into the brief moments as Peter all deserve a special mention, too.

Leah Smith’s solid costumes display the division between Capulet and Montague in blues and reds, with the berets, vests, and dresses the characters wear indicating their allegiance. Jon Young’s scenic design is beautiful in its simplicity. Relatively minimalist in terms of set dressing and props (aside from a few that are used to great effect, like Peter’s umbrella and the nurse’s fan), the stage still comes alive under Clint Allen’s lighting designs, which illuminated the backdrop, a watercolor-like picture of wispy clouds.

There are some excellent fight scenes, skillfully choreographed by the production’s fight director, Adam Noble, and, once again, much credit to Christina Keefe, who serves as the festival’s voice and text coach, for the natural flow every member of the cast seems to have.

Music director Samuel Gonzalez also does right by the production, from the sound of springtime that welcomed the audience in, to the overwhelming sense of doom conjured when everything goes wrong.

Houston Shakespeare Festival’s production of Romeo & Juliet is one to fall in love with. It’s a perfect night at the theater, whether it’s your first time seeing the show or your hundredth. Turns out, departing from this production of Romeo & Juliet was, in fact, sweet sorrow.

Performances of Romeo & Juliet, which is playing in repertory with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, will continue at 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday, August 6, Thursday, August 8, and Saturday, August 10, at Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park. For information, call 832-487-7123 or visit milleroutdoortheatre.com. Free.