I got introduced to & Juliet back during the pandemic when Spotify placed some songs from the Original London recording on my Weekly Discover list. Intrigued by this jukebox musical, I looked into it and thought it was an interesting concept.
When the pandemic began to ease and theater returned, & Juliet stormed into North America, starting in Toronto. It then came to Broadway and still runs today.
Knowing how much I love Broadway, my aunt offered to get me tickets to a show for my birthday. Her only request was that it not be something sad. Since & Juliet was on my list of shows to see and I knew it wasn’t sad, I asked to see that one.
So we went to a matinee on the second Saturday of May and now I’m going to tell you what I thought!
I’ve the got the eye of the SPOILERS!
Legendary playwright William Shakespeare (Drew Gehling) is ready to premiere his new play, Romeo and Juliet. (“Larger Than Life”) And its an extra special night because his wife, Anne Hathaway (Alison Luff), has gotten a babysitter and is there to see the play. However, she’s not thrilled when she hears that Romeo and Juliet die at the end (not a spoiler since it’s revealed right in the beginning!). She asks Will if she can change the ending and he lets her have a little fun. (“I Want it That Way”).
We see Juliet (Maya Boyd) in the tomb as she holds Romeo’s dagger, debating whether to kill herself or not. (“…Baby One More Time”) She ultimately decides not to and leaves the tomb.
Not really willing to share his characters, Will tries to take over again. At Romeo’s funeral, he introduces all of Romeo’s lovers, including Rosalind. It seems Romeo got all around Verona and everyone in the city mourns his passing. (“Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely”) Juliet is not thrilled to see how many people Romeo had romanced and that all his romantic declarations had been used many times on many different people.
Ouch.
In her room, Juliet mourns the relationship she thought she had with Romeo as she also rages at him. Her nurse, Angelique (Cassie Silva), tries to comfort her but then the Capulets flounce in and declare that they are sending Juliet to a nunnery since she’s been so rebellious. Juliet is even angrier now.
Anne decides that Juliet needs a best friend and introduces May (Michael Ivan Carrier), who identifies more as a female than a male. Will questions this but Anne reminds him of all the female characters who pretend to be male he had created and suggests that May gets to be May. Will agrees.
Then Anne writes herself into the story as Juliet’s other friend April. She suggests that Juliet go out and live her best life. (“Domino”) Juliet and May agree and after some encouragement, Angelique joins them. They decide to go to Paris and Will joins the story as the carriage driver who takes them there. (“Show Me Love”)
Once in Paris, they decide to crash the first party they find. They struggle to do since they aren’t on the list, though they assume it’s because of how young they look. At this point, Juliet proudly announces that she will be 14 on her next birthday and Anne stops the story to ask her husband why the hell Juliet is so young. He tries to insist that Juliet is based on a historical person but she shuts him down, saying that everyone is in their 20s now (with Angelique excluded, I assume).
(Fun fact – while it may seem modern for Anne to be aghast that Juliet was so young, it’s not. Based on some quick research, many in Elizabethan England had realized it wasn’t best for young girls to give birth and to wait until they were older so it was common for brides to be between 18 and 24 years old).
Starting the story up, Juliet and her group manage to sneak into the party and Juliet becomes the life of the party. She even swings from the chandelier at one point! Anne knows how to let Juliet be young and have fun! (“Blow”)
May briefly meets the guest of honor, Francois (Nathan Levy), and shares a moment with him. The party is being thrown by Francois’ father, Lance (Joey Fatone), who wants to see his youngest son married. Or else he’ll have to join the military.
Francois definitely doesn’t want to do that.
Juliet and May have a little heart-to-heart in the bathroom when the attendant tries to direct May to the men’s room. May explains their struggle as Juliet offers support and comfort. (“I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman”)
Francois meanwhile has decided to hide away and plays his virginal, composing a new song. Juliet finds him and they talk, realizing that they have things in common – like overbearing parents. She also gets a good joke in when she doesn’t understand that the instrument is called a virginal. They sing together and really bond. (“Overprotected”) She then convinces Francois to step out of his comfort zone and he starts to really have fun at his own party while May looks on, heartbroken that their friend is going after the man they are attracted to. (“Confident”)
We start in a bedroom the next morning but when the covers are pulled back, it isn’t Francois and Juliet underneath them. Instead, Angelique is trying to slip out before Lance wakes up. But he catches her and we soon learn that Angelique used to work for him but she left because they were having an affair. She knew he would never leave his wife so she decided it was best to just go. Lance points out that he’s now a widower and is still attracted to Angelique. She though is hesitant to resume a relationship with him, saying she wants to stay with Juliet until she is married (again). Lance figures that means there’s hope for them. (“Teenage Dream”/”Break Free”)
Meanwhile, Francois and Juliet do wake up together though it doesn’t seem they did anything. Francois proposes to Juliet, who is hesitant to accept another quick proposal after what happened with Romeo. (“Oops…I Did It Again”) But Will has brought her parents to Paris and they are still insistent she go to the nunnery. Realizing that marriage is the only way to save herself, Juliet accepts Francois’ proposal and everyone is happy…except May and Anne.
Anne notes that Will never writes about happy marriages. He says that he has one coming up in his next play…Macbeth.
Dude, no.
But Will’s not done. He wants to bring more drama to the plot and so has Francois and May run into each other again. It’s clear they have chemistry and they share a kiss. (“I Kissed a Girl”) And on top of that, Will decides that Romeo isn’t dead after all. Romeo (Liam Pierce) busts out of his grave and travels to Paris to be reunited with Juliet, who is less than thrilled to see him. (“It’s My Life”)
And that brings us to the intermission.
Let’s take a moment to breathe and then we’ll dive back into Act II.
Romeo is pretty much a douche and is pretty much “I forgive you for not killing yourself and I’m willing to take you back as my wife.” Juliet, obviously, is not pleased and tells him that she’s moved on and that she’s going to marry Francois. (“Love Me Like You Do,” “Since U Been Gone”). Anne meanwhile is pissed at Will for bringing Romeo back to life, Will is angry that Juliet won’t let Romeo explain himself, and then Anne is angry that Will can’t respect that this story (and Juliet) is important to her.
She breaks his quill and now the story will play out however it plays out without either having direct control over the plot.
May confronts Francois about not being honest about his feelings but Francois is still unable to stand up to his father. (“Whataya Want From Me”) While May struggles with their feelings for Francois, Juliet comes in to complain about Romeo and May gets even more frustrated.
Even though her wedding is coming up, Romeo goes to talk with Juliet again. This time, he takes a different approach and talks about how much better she made him and asks to spend some time with her. (“One More Try”). They go to a carnival and it’s clear that they still have feelings for each other but Juliet doesn’t want to go backwards. So she’s going to go forward with Francois, even though it’s clear she doesn’t feel the same about him as she does about Romeo. (“Problem/Can’t Feel My Face”)
Meanwhile, Angelique proposes to Lance now that Juliet is getting married. Lance prepares Francois for his wedding and Will disguises himself as one of Francois’ brothers to convince Lance and Francois to get the family band back together. Lance agrees happily and Francois reluctantly agrees.
Wedding day comes and Anne goes to check on Juliet. She is nervous so Anne tells her about her own wedding to Will. As Anne advises Juliet to go after what she wants and whoever she loves, she reminds herself why she loves Will. (“That’s the Way It Is”) Juliet grabs the rest of her dress and then heads down to the wedding.
Down there, Du Bois Band performs for the guests. Lance, Francois, Will and May dance and sing to delight of everyone as they wait for Juliet to arrive. (“Everybody”) She enters and Francois begins singing his vows. (“As Long as You Love Me”) But he then stops and finally admits that he’s in love with May, who returns his feelings. (“It’s Gonna Be Me”)
Lance accepts the relationship (“Shape of My Heart”) and Romeo sees his chance, confessing his love to Juliet. She’s still not sure she can take him back. Her parents then insist she needs to come back with them and go into the nunnery, stating they know what’s best for her – something Juliet knows isn’t true.
Angelique steps forward to comfort Juliet, reassuring Juliet that there’s nothing wrong with her and that Angelique will be by her side as long as Juliet needs her. (“Fucking Perfect”). Juliet, though, realizes the only person who knows what’s best for her is herself. She thanks Angelique, encourages her to be with Lance and then finally tells everyone – especially Romeo and her parents – not to mess with her. (“Roar”)
Juliet leaves with the ensemble and Will is annoyed that she took his players. It leaves him alone with Anne and they finally hash out their issues. He reveals he brought back Romeo to give Anne a happy ending but Anne says she just wanted Juliet to have the ability to choose. Will understands that Anne wanted Juliet to have a more active role in her life and that Anne wants the same in their marriage. He apologizes and reaffirms his love for her. (“I Want It That Way – Reprise”)
They find a new quill and decide to write some happy endings together. Francois and May live happily ever after as do Angelique and Lance. Juliet’s parents aren’t mentioned but I imagined they just fell into a hole somewhere. As for Romeo and Juliet, they decided to start over and take things slow. There is a promise of a happy ending for them.
So there was only one way to end the story. Anne and Will lead the audience in a dance party as everyone joins in. (“Can’t Fight the Feeling”)
And that was & Juliet. It was fun and I loved it. I’m glad I chose it as my birthday show.
I liked that the ensemble slowly came on stage at the beginning and did stretches, some dance moves, set the scene, etc. Some even interacted with audience members. It was a nice touch and made it feel like the audience had just wandered into Shakespeare’s theater space and reinformed that the fourth wall didn’t really exist.
And it gave the ensemble a chance to really show off some of their dance skills. These dancers are amazing and are worth the price of the ticket alone.
I did get to see Charli D’Amelio in the show. She was a great dancer but is absolutely part of the ensemble, meaning they don’t go out of their way to try to show her off. She gets her moments to shine along with the rest of the ensemble, though not as many since she doesn’t sing. Charli is clearly a cast member, nothing more. And I think she’s enjoying that.
I’m also glad I got to see Fatone as well. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high in case he wasn’t able to perform when I went to see it but he was there. He was great in the role, handling the comedy and heartwarming moments very well. And he’s also still got his boy band moves. Even did some choreography NSYNC fans will recognize immediately.
While the focus of the show’s ads and promotions is Juliet, the truth is that the story really belongs to Anne and Will. Some later commercials focus on them now, but it’s still a surprise to see how much this story really belongs to them. As I noted in my recap, they really work out their issues by using Romeo and Juliet. This is as much their journey as it is Juliet’s.
Because Juliet does go on a journey. She goes from a timid, heartbroken young woman to someone who finally finds her voice. Juliet stops just being a player in her life story and starts writing it herself. She stands up to Shakespeare as much as she does to her parents and Romeo. She puts her happiness in her own hands.
Between Juliet and Anne, the story is very empowering and told in a fun way without feeling too preachy.
I definitely recommend the show. If you’re able to get to Broadway, check this out. And if a tour comes near you, try to get tickets to go. You’ll have a fun night out and won’t regret it.
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