Review: & JULIET National Tour at Durham Performing Arts Center

& Juliet is a jukebox musical that utilizes a collection of songs co-written by hitmaker Max Martin. The story envisions a not-quite-so-star-crossed scenario for the female lead of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The story explores what would have happened if Juliet didn’t kill herself at the end of the play and instead went on to seek a fresh beginning and a second chance at life and love, her way.

After premiering at the Manchester Opera House, the show opened on November 20th, 2019 at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London’s West End. The production received 9 Laurence Olivier Award nominations (including Best New Musical) and ran until March 25th, 2023. & Juliet later opened on November 17th, 2022 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on Broadway, where it received 9 Tony nominations (including Best Musical), and is as of now still running.

The story begins with William Shakespeare introducing the very first performance of Romeo & Juliet. Yet his wife, Anne, really wants him to change the ending. Much to his displeasure, he allows her to explain her idea. The book by David West Read, an Emmy-winning writer/executive producer of Schitt’s Creek, has what on paper appears to be a clever concept that succeeds in execution. The way he has some of the lyrics to all these pre-existing songs contextualized in the plot is funny. His dialogue doesn’t mimic Shakespeare’s style, and is instead more contemporary. Which is appropriate because if he tried the latter, it would’ve clashed with the contemporary music. Not to mention that he also makes fun of Shakespearean facts in a respectful manner.

Under Luke Sheppard’s direction, he has everything staged on Soutra Gilmour set, which not only looks evocative of Shakespeare’s plays when they were first performed, but also very retro. Paloma Young’s costumes are also true to the era while still doing something stylish with the clothing. Howard Hudson’s lighting is so eye-popping. Gareth Owen does such amazing work with the sound design, making everything the audience hears on stage very clear without becoming deafening to their ears. Sheppard also provides slick transitions between scenes while Jennifer Weber delivers very energetic choreography. Plus, Bill Sherman’s orchestrations (with some help from Dominic Fallacaro) successfully creates a cohesive sound for all these different pre-existing pop/rock hits.

Starring in the coveted role of Juliet herself is Rachel Simone Webb. She has an amazing character arc as she goes from wanting to avoid being sent away to a convent by her parents to eventually taking charge of her own destiny. Not to mention that Webb also has such killer vocals on display. Corey March and Teal Wicks both do great work together as Shakespeare and Anne, respectively. The former shows a lot of determination in his performance while the latter shares a heartfelt rendition of Céline Dion’s ‘That’s the Way It Is’ with Webb in Act II. Mateus Leite Cardoso is quite charismatic as François Du Bois, a young man who must either get married or join the army. Nick Drake as Juliet’s non-binary friend, May, is not only flamboyant, but they also get to be sincere at certain points. Comedic highlights include Paul-Jordan Jansen as François’ father, Lance Du Bois, and Kathryn Allison as Juliet’s nurse, Angélique. Both of them also make for such an amusing couple.

I don’t know what diehard Shakespeare fans are going to think of this musical as it is the exact opposite of what the original stage play of Romeo & Juliet was. With that being said, I found it to be a total blast. It takes something that contemporary audiences might find old fashioned and does something completely fresh with it. This results in such a fun night out at the theatre. Imagine if one day, someone creates a whole jukebox musical serving as a sequel to West Side Story that’s inspired by this show.

The national tour of & Juliet is currently playing at the Durham Performing Arts Center through October 6th. For more information, please click here.