By SHARON EBERSON

Corey Mach was on a balcony in Charlotte, N.C., last week, looking out at a cloudless sky and talking about coming to Pittsburgh as William Shakespeare in the hit musical & Juliet.

Mach is on tour with the show that boasts nine Tony Award nominations, songs by prolific hitmaker Max Martin, and a new twist on Romeo and Juliet. This version of the tragic love story takes off from an intervention by The Bard’s wife, Ann Hathaway, setting up a less tragic course for Juliet. 

Reviews of & Juliet on Broadway extolled the production and notably forced The New York Times’ Jesse Green to pull back from the declaration, “I have done everything a critic can do to stamp out the jukebox musical,” and clarify, “Shoot me. I liked it.” 

Not a biomusical nor based on something from the screen, & Juliet’s original story is infused with wit and the works of Martin, most recently producer of Coldplay’s new studio album.

Among the easily accessible songs, Mach’s Shakespeare rocks out to the Backstreet Boys’ Larger Than Life.

“Which is hilarious,” he said. “because my favorite album of Max Martin’s, that I didn’t even know that he wrote, is Millennium by the Backstreet Boys. That was my bread-and-butter growing up. I knew every single word of every song, and Larger Than Life is the first song in the album. … The fact that I get to open the show every day with this huge, exaggerated entrance, and there’s fog and smoke, and there’s a big reveal, and I get to sing that whole song, which was such a huge part of my childhood, is truly a dream.”

Broadway and touring veteran Mach was seen most recently as Tyler in the Tony-winning revival of Merrily We Roll Along, in which he also understudied Jonathan Groff.

Transitioning from Stephen Sondheim to the music of Martin has been a learning experience about the behind-the-scenes songwriter/producer, who has five Grammys in 24 nominations.

“I definitely knew who he was, but I can’t say that everyone in the cast knew, or even anyone who comes to the show knows, and he sort of prefers it that way,” Mach continued. “He’s pretty private and not in any way obsessed with celebrity, and I think he prefers for his music to kind of tell its own story.”

For this particular story, there is one new Max Martin song, a duet between Juliet and Romeo (Rachel Simone Webb and Michael Canu) that is one of Mach’s favorite moments in the show.

The song comes in Act II, when Mach is off-stage and can take it all in.

“It’s called One More Try, sung by Rachel and Michael, and they have some of the best pop voices that honestly exist in this business. And to hear them sing that song every day is such a magnificent treat. … They’re experts at what they do, and it’s not easy as a musical theater actor to sing a pop song perfectly, and I think that they’ve truly mastered it, and that’s definitely the highlight of the show.”

Others may perk up hearing familiar songs in a new context, such as: It’s Gonna Be Me, I Kissed a Girl, Oops! I Did it Again, That’s the Way It Is, Since U Been Gone, I Want It That Way … 

& Juliet features a book by the Emmy-winning writer from Schitt’s Creek, David West Read, direction by Luke Sheppard and choreography by Emmy-Award winner Jennifer Weber. The Broadway production is scheduled to run until March 23, 2025. 

Without spoiling too much, Mach said, “I think that the seamlessness of incorporating these really well-known songs into this story of Romeo and Juliet that has been sort of flipped on its head is pretty brilliant.

Mach’s Shakespeare and Ann Hathaway (Teal Wicks) act as guides throughout the story.

“After 25 years in the business, I love the opportunity to make direct contact with an audience, and this show allows that because the two of us are the narrators, and a huge part of the story is bringing the audience in with us and making sure they’re on board, Mach said. “I appreciate that aspect of this show – to connect with the audience in a way that I normally would not be able to in any other role.”

While on the road in North Carolina, even while enjoying a beautiful fall day, Mach and the & Juliet company are aware of the effects of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

“You can kind of even tell every city we’ve been in, just small traces of devastation, even just walking down the sidewalks and the river levels …it’s been crazy,” Mach said. 

After the curtain speech each night while in the area, they have been collecting money for the Red Cross to help hurricane victims.

For Mach, a Cleveland native, finishing up a long-running Broadway show such as Merrily and hitting the road with & Juliet marks his fourth national tour since 2007, but his first as a husband, father and home owner.

Another big change is that “very welcome” shift from “very serious Sondheim” to a contemporary pop comedy. 

“I’m being an absolute clown on stage, and the director has given me just all the permission and the opportunity to inject as much of Corey into this role as possible,” he said. “I appreciate the drastic genre shifts, because it keeps me engaged, it keeps me excited.”

The same excitement goes for the & Juliet crowds that have been greeting the cast, since the tour launched in Baltimore on September 22

“A lot of people at the stage door come up to us saying that they didn’t know what to expect, and that their expectations were completely blown out of the water. 

TICKETS AND DETAILS

& Juliet is a PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh presentation at the Benedum Center, Downtown, October 29 – November 3, 2024. Tickets: Visit https://trustarts.org/production/94985/and-juliet or call 412-456-4800.

Categories: Arts and Ideas, Our Posts, Show Previews

Tags: & Juliet, Benedum Center, Corey Mach, National Tour, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh