West End Wednesday: & Juliet
& Juliet is a 2019 jukebox musical featuring the music of American music writer, Max Martin. The concept of the show is a ‘what if?’ scenario, in which it explores the possibility of what could have happened to the character of Juliet at the end of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet if Juliet had decided to not kill herself. The show features a slew of infamous pop classics such as ‘Larger Than Life’, ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’, ‘Roar’, ‘Domino’, ‘Oops!... I Did It Again’, ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’ and many more.
The musical is set at the premiere of Romeo & Juliet. Upon Shakespeare explaining the plot to his wife Anne Hathaway, Anne muses what would happen if Shakespeare didn’t kill Juliet off at the end, and as Shakespeare lets Anne explain her theory, it starts playing out. The musical develops with Anne and Shakespeare writing along the way with twists, turns and a Romeo resurrection leading to the an argument between the married couple, forcing Anne to snap the quill (in which they are writing the story with) and it therefore takes its own unalterable course. The show celebrates sexual and gender identity and exploration, as well as heavily focusing on the strength of womanhood.
The musical had a five-week workshop period at the start of 2019 in London, before embarking on an out-of-town try-out at The Manchester Opera House in the Autumn of the same year. The musical opened in Manchester for a month in September 2019 to an extremely positive audience reaction and strong ticket sales. Already pre-announced to go to London after its successful run in Manchester, & Juliet transferred to the Shaftesbury Theatre, beginning previews on 2 November 2019. The musical has direction by Luke Sheppard, choreography by Jennifer Weber, set design by Soutra Gilmour, costume design by Paloma Young and lighting design by Howard Hudson. The original cast included Miriam-Teak Lee as Juliet, Cassidy Janson as Anne, Oliver Tompsett as Shakespeare, David Bedella as Lance, Arun Blair-Mangat as May, Jordan Luke Gage as Romeo, Melanie La Barrie as Angelique and Tim Mahendran as Francois. Along with every theatre in the country, the Shaftesbury (and thus the production) was forced to close on 16 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The producers have set a reopening date for 21 March 2021. The show was also set to make its North American premiere at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto in February 2021, but that has also been postponed due to the current pandemic.
The production was nominated for nine 2020 Olivier awards, winning three in all of the acting categories it was nominated in.
If you haven’t blasted this soundtrack out yet Besties, you need to; its pure jukebox banger heaven!
Cast recording available on Spotify and AppleMusic.
FACTS:
Music: Max Martin and Various
Lyrics: Max Martin and Various
Book: David West Read
Theatre: The Shaftesbury Theatre
Run: 2 November 2019 – 16 March 2020 suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic. (Around 20 previews and 130 shows)
OLIVIERS
(NOMINATED) Best New Musical, Best Theatre Choreographer – Jennifer Weber, Best Set Design – Soutra Gilmour, Best Costume Design – Paloma Young, Best Lighting Design – Howard Hudson, Original score or New Orchestrations - Dominic Fallacaro and Bill Sherman
(WON) Best Actress in a Musical – Miriam-Teak Lee, Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical – David Bedella, Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical – Cassidy Janson.
