By SHARON EBERSON
For those of you who give jukebox musicals a general thumb’s down, even you might find yourself giving a high five to & Juliet.
Star-crossed though they may seem, it turns out that the Renaissance and the pop era of Backstreet Boys, Britney and Beanie Babies were made for each other.
The sparkly Tony-nominated & Juliet charts a new course for Shakespeare’s tragedy of young love and feuding adults, with an insanely talented cast and a wink-and-a-nudge weave of story and the Max Martin songbook.
If you don’t know Max Martin, you do. You just don’t know it. He has written or co-written 27 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles, almost nonstop.
In & Juliet, you’ll find the likes of Britney Spears’s Baby One More Time, the Backstreet Boys’ I Want It That Way, Celine Dion’s That’s the Way It Is and Katy Perry’s I Kissed a Girl, all among Martin’s greatest hits.
The songs reverberate with often hilarious, sometimes heartwarming meaning in & Juliet. Several are rendered with production numbers choreographed by Tony-nominee Jennifer Weber and backed by explosive projections that rival anything you’d see in a live concert by those stars.
There’s a wild-ride story here, too, by David West Read, that goes hard for punny lines and transitions into songs with a nod to the audience’s knowledge of both the Bard and popular music.
It seems to be the trend of modern theater to present Shakespeare (Corey Mach), the man and writer, as an egomaniac who should be taken down a peg (think Something Rotten!), and that’s the jumping off point for & Juliet.
Appropriately, a new boy band documentary titled Larger Than Life was announced just this week, and that’s the song that introduces the Bard, before his oft-forgotten wife Anne Hathaway (Teal Wicks through Thursday; then Shelby Greenwald takes over the role) – yes, there’s a wink to the same-named actress – has decided to inject herself into the story & the storytelling where Romeo and Juliet is concerned.
Shakespeare, a la the Backstreet Boys, “wants it that way,” meaning his way. But Anne has other ideas.
The theme of women’s empowerment starts at Oops! I Did It Again and races toward Roar, as Anne proposes an alternate ending to the great tragedy of star-crossed young lovers:
What if Juliet is not inspired to kill herself by Romeo’s death? What if, instead, she charts a new course that’s all about what she wants? … asks the wife and mother who does not hide her feelings of abandonment by her rock-star husband.
Wicks has power-pop pipes and spot-on comic timing – in fact, it’s hard to name a show with so many cast members given a chance to shine and who earn every moment in the spotlight.
Rewriting Romeo and Juliet in real time, while weaving in and out of the story, the Shakespeares take a step back as Juliet (Rachel Simone Webb) takes centerstage.
Anne takes up Will’s quill to give Juliet a gay BFF, May (Nick Drake), recasts herself as BFF No. 2, and off they run to Paris – better than a nunnery, where her parents are determined Juliet must go.
Juliet’s nurse, Angelique (Kathryn Allison) goes along on the journey and on a journey of her own, to reconnect with former beau Lance (Paul-Jordan Jansen).
Allison and Jansen are among the show’s MVPs as they rekindle their relationship and help their young charges find their way – in Jansen’s case, accepting his “shy” son, Francois (Mateus Leit Cardoso).
As for Webb’s Juliet, Confident is one of the songs that defines what she and the other young searchers are looking for. After her disastrous relationship with Romeo (Michael Canu), Juliet begins to believe once again that marriage is the only way out of her circumstances – and if you guessed Oops! I Did It Again is what comes next, you’d of course be right.
With Will and Anne exchanging turns at the quill, the story takes a few unexpected and a few obvious turns, all of which are welcome. Even the bad puns are delivered with a wink.
Scenic designer Soutra Gilmour has a big resume, including Merrily We Roll Along and the current Sunset Boulevard on Broadway, which has been described as having a minimalist set. & Juliet doesn’t skimp on visuals or acrobatics – sets and costumes are awash in a frenzied My Little Pony color scheme, actors get lifts via chandelier and a crescent moon … there’s even a ton of confetti that will mean a very big clean-up for the Benedum Center crew.
& Juliet serves up nonstop entertainment, and if it seems it throws a lot at you, well, I’m all for excess when it’s done with an abundance of wit and charm and sparkle. & in this jukebox musical, it’s a joy when the hits just keep on coming.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
& Juliet is a PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh presentation at the Benedum Center, Downtown, through November 3, 2024. Tickets: Visit https://trustarts.org/production/94985/and-juliet or call 412-456-4800.
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