“& Juliet” is an Awkward Disney-Channel-Style Musical — But At Least the Songs are Fun

“& Juliet” performance I Photo Courtesy of Matthew Murphy.

The opinions reflected in this OpEd are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of staff, faculty and students of The King's College.

Several pop-dance numbers into the first act of “& Juliet,” the new jukebox musical at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, I was genuinely having fun. The music was nostalgic, the cast was energetic and the audience was into it, but my excitement didn’t last.

“& Juliet” is a retelling of William Shakespeare’s iconic play “Romeo & Juliet.” It combines this retelling with the music of Max Martin, the prolific songwriter behind more #1 Billboard Hot 100 hits than any other artist in history. His most well-known songs include hits such as “Roar,” “Shake It Off,” “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” “Oops! I Did it Again” and many more. To fans of the last two decades of Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Brittany Spears and Kelly Clarkson pop music, "& Juliet” was created for you.

The musical begins with an imagined scene between William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway (yes, that was actually her real name), as he finishes writing “Romeo & Juliet.” Instead of the tragic ending we are familiar with, Hathaway questions how the story would change if Juliet decided not to kill herself and go on living. This initial question is an intriguing premise but “& Juliet” squanders it. 

Instead of rewriting the play with an ending that builds on the other iconic characters and settings in “Romeo and Juliet,” the show sprints to throw out any connection to Shakespeare’s play except the name of the title character. This is no longer a retelling of Shakespeare’s story; we are now in a new, unrecognizable play altogether. Juliet is sent packing as she journeys to Paris with a group of friends (again, none of whom are actual characters in “Romeo & Juliet”) and finds herself entangled in a love triangle involving a friend and the young son of a French aristocrat.

The problem with “& Juliet” isn’t the music. The songs are concert-style, energetic dance numbers that bring the well-known pop songs like “I Want It That Way,” “Roar” and “Can’t Stop the Feeling” to the Broadway stage. The problem isn’t the show’s production quality, casting or directing either. All of these qualities are executed at the highest level. (This show is probably the most elaborate production I have yet to see this season.)

The problem with “& Juliet,” rather, is the show’s script, which seems intent on wasting as little of the audience’s time as possible between songs, leaving only enough room to awkwardly stumble through a plot point, change the set and costumes and give a cringe-worthy line to pander to their woke target audience. Overall, “& Juliet” misses an opportunity to merge Martin’s pop music catalog and Shakespeare’s tragic masterpiece into something brilliant, instead floundering in a cringe-worthy mess of random plot development, terrible dialogue and obsessive political correctness. 

But, hey, at least the songs are fun. And for that… they’ll probably sell a lot of tickets.

& Juliet is currently running at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

Eli Johnson is the Theatre Columnist for the Empire State Tribune. He is a freshman at The King's College majoring in Business. He is an avid theatre-goer and always enjoys a game of chess.