“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the Sun….”
What middle school student hasn’t had their initial introduction to English literature through William Shakespeare’s standard classic Romeo & Juliet? And if they haven’t studied it formally in class, every generation has it’s defining motion picture version or variety of it from the luxurious 1968 Franco Zeffirelli romantic version starring Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting (whose surprise bare bottom scene was the awakening for a generation of 7th grade girls, and a few boys as well) as the star-crossed lovers, to the grittier 1996 Baz Luhrmann epic with a youthful Leonardio DiCaprio and Claire Daines, to the ahead-of-its-time West Side Story covering the immortal tale. This season there are competing versions in New York and London of the classic, helmed by internet flavor of the month Heartstoppers’ Carson and the ubiquitous Spiderman Tom Holland respectively. A bleak, controversial revival of West Side Story opened on Broadway weeks before Covid shut it down, and an almost as controversial (and equally as unsuccessful) movie remake by no less than Steven Spielberg hit theatres not long after. just when you thought you couldn’t gain any more mileage out of the masterpiece, last year a new hit reconceived musical version crossed over from a successful run in London, employing the impressive musical catalog of über-producer Max Martin, which is now taking the US Touring circuit by storm.
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose would by any other name smell as sweet.”
The concept: Shakespeare’s devoted, long-suffering wife Anne Hathaway (“not the actress”) has discovered his newest work. You know, the story of a thirteen-year-old girl and her new boyfriend whose parents are hateful enemies and forbid them to see each other? So they devise this plan where a friendly friar who is to marry them gives the girl a potion that makes her appear to be dead until he can get a message to the boy who will swoop in and awaken her for the wedding. Except if the messenger blows his one job, and the boy arrives, sees his love apparently dead and drinks poison. Which is awkward when the girl arises and, seeing her dead boyfriend, decides she has no other option than to kill herself for love……
Well, Mrs. Hathaway-Shakespeare calls “Timeout!” and demands a rewrite. How ‘bout the girl doesn’t kill herself over a boy she’s known for three days? Maybe, just maybe the girl, Juliet, realizes she’s had enough of drama queen boys and controlling parents and she decides to leave Verona and have her own fabulous adventure on the road? How ‘bout we drop the dead boyfriend and un-ship the title, to merely “…..& Juliet”. And, go!
“Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”
And just like that, we have a new, stronger feminist heroine not bound down to some tired-assed, Justin Bieber wannabe who sets out to tell her own story, a story most definitely not defined by her ability to catch a man. And what would the Bard himself have to say on this abysmal “woke” revisal of his will-be classic story. Who could possibly find anything interesting in Juliet when Romeo is removed from the equation?
And that is the opening set-up for the smart, sassy, clever, and hella big fun new musical & Juliet, with a surprisingly witty book by David West Read and a score drawn from the catalog of the most prestigious music producer of all time, Max Martin who has produced (25) and written (27) the most #1 Billboard hits of all time for artists such as NSYNC, The Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Pink, and Taylor Swift.
The cast is first-rate and game for the tongue-in-cheek update they are creating before us. Starting at the top, Teal Wicks (The Cher Show, Finding Neverland, Jeckyl & Hyde) is as fun and feisty as she was ain her last Broadway appearance as legendary 1970’s TV-era Cher, where she learned a thing or two about continuing to shine as a strong woman without her man. Wicks takes a thing or two from her time as Cher and is still able to put a man in his place with a smart quip and a tongue sharper than any….quill at her disposal. And, just like she brought perfect period life to such iconic hits as “Strong Enough” and “Song for the Lonely” in The Cher Show, as Anne Hathaway she nails some other early 2000s hits from “I Want it That Way” to just the right amount of salute to Celine Dion in her powerhouse 11:00 delivery of “That’s the Way It Is”. Wicks is a certified star-on-the-rise waiting to return to Broadway and explode in the company of Megan Hilty, Stephany J. Block, and Emily Skinner. Wicks has done incredibly work alongside mega stars like Matthew Morrison and Kelsey Grammer in Neverland and the amazing Stephanie J. Block as another incarnation of Cher. Here she stands on her own, as she wants our heroine Juliet to, and delivers her powerhouse star-making performance.
This time Wicks is the one getting the great support, and Corey Mach (Kinky Boots, Hands on a Hard Body, Merrily We Roll Along) is a blast as her beleaguered husband the Bard trying desperately to rein her in and regain control of his fragile male alter-ego Romeo in her ramshackle treatment of his craft. Mach, looking as if he could have missed an opportunity to be a front man for an actual boyband, is perfectly cast as a rockstar Will Shakespeare. He appropriately gets the show off to an enthusiastic start belting “Larger Than Life”, matches Wicks vocally in their musical battle of the sexes “I Want it That Way”, and takes hold of the spotlight when he puts together maybe the world’s first boy band leading “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” and, finally, shows remarkable growth under his wife’s tutelage with a final tender apologetic reprise of “That Way”.
As the new solo star of Hathaway’s vehicle, Rachel Simone Webb (Broadway company of the show) is a delightful discovery. A strong actress who goes from a young girl who lost control of her story to the strong young woman who is writing her own, she impressively carries a slew of production numbers throughout, from Britney’s “Baby One More Time” and “Oops!….I Did It Again”, culminating in her conquering feminist finale of Katy Perry’s “Roar”. A great, versatile comic actress who can play innocent, strong, oppressed, and smart, she is the perfect combination of ingenue and comedian to take Juliet from where Shakespeare started her to where Hathaway led her to where she intends to go on her own from there.
Even though it’s a fresh new feminist take on the show, there are still some great featured moments for some of the boys in the band. Nick Drake (Back to the Future, Kinky Boots, Ain’t Too Proud…) gets the most mileage from their confused non-binary character, gay best friend May (wait for it in Act 2), who uses their sexual confusion to take Britney’s “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” to some clever new places. Mateus Leite Cardoso as Parisian nobleboy François du Bois (renamed “Frankie DeBoy” by the new forward-thinking Juliet, another set-up for another big laugh joke later in the show), is charming as a potential new love interest with questions of his own likewise dealing with daddy issues. He impresses himself as much as the audience when he adds a funny new spin on Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”
And, as if Shakespeare would have it any other way, Michael Canu makes for some great comedy and strong music with a huge re-entrance as the exiled former titular Romeo, tearing the house down with Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life”. Canu delivers the most memorable line of the show, when Medieval OG Romeo confesses in awe to Juliet 2.0, “I’m nothing. Not a prince or a king. I’m just a sexy boy with a tight body and deep feelings.” Take that, Cliff’s Notes.
The other adults in the revised story don’t get much extra stage time, but they all make the most of it. Naima Alakham and Usman Ali Mughal as Lord & Lady Capulet, have limited stage time but make the most of it carrying out their daughter’s discipline in the equivalent of the original auteur’s mock iambic pentameter.
Paul-Jordan Jansen as Lance, François’ equally demanding father is a commanding stage presence with a strong voice who, even as an “unlikeable” character, draws us into his own second chance story, and surprises all with his fierce boy band abilities when called upon, proving one is never too old to appreciate, or even be in, a boy band.
And the oft-neglected character of Juliet’s Nurse, here named Angélique, is also granted brand new life by a dynamic Kathryn Allison who, even if she is still relatively under-used in this revised update, at least gets the chance the shine with the 11:00 showstopper, Pink’s “Fucking Perfect”.
The technical components are astounding for a touring production. Scenic Designer Soutra Gilmour builds an elaborate base of period scenery filtered through a contemporary eye, and is given an incredible assist by Video and Projection Designer Andrzej Goulding. Costume Designer Paloma Young takes a similar approach, adding contemporary cuts and colors to mock-Medieval garb, a concept that has worked exceptionally well in interpretations as varied as Lurhmann’s film to the current Broadway production of Six. Lighting Designer Howard Hudson paints gorgeous layers of rock concert lighting on Gilmour’s receptive canvas, and throws in some pyrotechnics and other fan-friendly elements to pay proper tribute to the musical origins of the piece.
Musically, Andre Cerullo expertly coordinates the best pop vocals with outstanding rockstar stage arrangements from Bill Sherman, both of whom pay all the appropriate homage to the Grammy caliber stars who their made these covers famous. And Sound Designer Gareth Owen gives us all the arena perfect sound the score demands in the acoustically perfect Opera House, as we are spoiled with at the Kennedy Center.
The only critique I can find in the execution of this otherwise flawless gem of a show is Jennifer Weber’s choreography. It’s actually quite good, but for songs that have such strong dance images embroiled in a generation’s mind (NSYNC? Backstreet?? Britney??? ), her dances here are, if not exactly lackluster (because there is nothing lackluster about this show), well, sadly just ordinary and uninspired. Last season’s Britney Spears-inspired Once Upon a One More Time wisely hired the singer’s actual choreographer to take the show from DC to New York and give it the absolute Britney look, feel, and, experience. While that show needed the upgrade for Broadway, this one just needed a dose of that familiar style and execution that the music conjures in our minds. Cerullo and Sherman did a superb job aurally, Weber just let it slip a bit on the visual.
Director Luke Sheppard, delivers an amazing experience for the audience here. For all the rock concert opulence he is orchestrating, he never loses grasp of the themes of the show in the process. We get all the necessary emphasis on the love story of the Shakespears, the journey of self-discovery of not only Juliet, but virtually every other character–May, François, Lance, Angélique, even Romeo. He is an engaging storyteller, a visionary artist, as well as a phenomenal producer worthy of his composers’ blessing, Sheppard gives us a show that not only delivers hit after hit with rock concert thrills, but also hits us squarely in the heart, via all the other physical senses. He knows his material, and if given any choice of how I would like to experience it, let me simply paraphrase Martin: “I’d Want It That Way”.
“For never was a story of more woe, than this tale of Juliet and her Romeo.”
Yes, Romeo & Juliet may have had a tragic ending, but there is no woe in this superior retelling. The demi-titled & Juliet is uplifting, heartwarming, nostalgic, and an absolute celebration of joy, music, and life. And every chart-topping song title could be its own advertising campaign. “Larger Than Life” . “Fuckin’ Perfect”. “Baby, One More Time”. & Juliet is the best surprise of the 2024-25 touring season. That’s The Way It Is. And who, you might ask, would be so bold as to make such a broad, sweeping acclamation in a season as strong as it’s been with the bulk of it yet to come? Well, if anyone would, you should know by now, It’s Gonna Be Me.
Photos courtesy of Matthew Murphy
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with one intermission.
& Juliet currently plays through January 5, 2025, at the Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street NW, Washington DC 20566. For tickets, call the box office at 202.467.4600 or purchase online at https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/explore-by-genre/theater/2024-2025/juliet/