A review: & Juliet, and everything between the margins

All photos by Rebekah Grace de Guzman

Earlier this year, one of our journalists, Charles-Henry Lubatti, published an article on how to access the arts as a high school student. The last entry in the list piqued my interest: TeenTix LA, in partnership with countless venues across LA County, gives teenagers the opportunity to purchase tickets to shows for five dollars. Utilizing this service, I got the opportunity to watch the North American tour of a musical playing at the Ahmanson Theatre: & Juliet.

I remember first hearing of & Juliet when it first premiered at the West End (the UK’s equivalent of Broadway) and the plot strumming my feminist heartstrings. It follows Juliet, who decides not to take her life after the death of her star-crossed lover, Romeo. The story, however, is guided by William Shakespeare himself and his wife, Anne Hathaway (yes, they make a joke about it), after Hathaway suggests rewriting the story on the premiere of the illustrious play.

The kicker, though, is that it’s a jukebox musical– a musical composed of well-known and popular songs rather than original material. The most popular that come to mind are probably Mamma Mia, which uses ABBA’s music, and Moulin Rouge! which has an assorted combination of music. & Juliet specifically uses famed producer and songwriter Max Martin’s music, whose incredibly extensive catalog includes Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and so many other pop icons’ top hits.

When I arrived at The Music Center on that Sunday evening, there was a wide variety of people who came with their families or in parties. There were quite a number of mother-daughter units as well as elderly couples, and it became clear to me that I might’ve been one of the only people to come alone. However, I still managed to snag a picture by the neon backdrop courtesy of a woman who came with her friend and grabbed my TeenTix ticket at the box office.

Coming inside the theatre itself, the house had projections with the show’s theming, which fully immersed me into the world we were about to jump into coming inside the theatre. This immersion is further supported when the Players come out to do their pre-show. The Players is the name given to the musical’s ensemble, cheekily named after the quote “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players” from another one of Shakespeare’s plays, As You Like It.

The pre-show includes dancing and audience interaction if you’re one of the lucky few to sit in the front row. The Players also try to complete the set of the play by finishing the focal piece of the set by hanging up the letters Romeo to complete the sign as “Romeo & Juliet” and painting some of the props. But soon, they’re interrupted by a pre-show announcement done using pictures with illustrations of the messages they’re trying to convey.

The musical then launches into full speed, colors vibrant and bright and the punk baroque-infused costumes on full display. The book is incredibly clever and hilarious: one of my favorite jokes is when Juliet’s support squad is about to go to an age-restricted party, and she excitedly says that she’ll be turning 14, causing Hathaway to pause the show and demand that Shakespeare changes her age.

Shakespeare argues on the behalf of historical accuracy, but Hathaway dismisses him and says “How about we say we’re all in our 20’s?”, to which he gives a side-eye. In those cases, I did get the joke, but it didn’t get a laugh out of me unlike the adults who were in the audience. It seemed self-aware that because of the pop hits included in its setlist that the show would be attended by families with young children, rather than solo teenage attendees such as myself.

Speaking of the pop hits, some were more cleverly integrated than others, and for ones that didn’t (which felt more obvious in the second act) I sat in my chair wondering why the show felt the necessity to fit yet another song. The actors and actresses still killed it as musical performers always do. However, I wouldn’t say there were absolute standouts, which could be on the fault that they are performing other artists’ songs.

This is not to say that it’s a bad show– actually, I would say that it’s quite the opposite. It’s made clear the distinction between what’s happening in the play and in the margins when Shakespeare and Hathaway have their married quarrels, which as a screenwriter I can imagine as being hard to accomplish. It also spotlights themes of gender queerness, sexuality acceptance, and female empowerment that resonate with audiences across all generations. In particular, it absolutely touched my heart when, after the show had ended, a group of preteen girls were raving about how cute May and Francois were. May is Juliet’s non-binary best friend who has their own arc regarding their gender identity, when Francois, an heir to a noble title who doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps of joining the army or getting married to a woman, falls in love with them.

There is just much left to be desired from audiences with my particular perspective. The concept of Juliet making the choice to move past Romeo can provide so much commentary of 14th century Verona and, like with all of Shakespeare’s work, about the expectations that women are expected to conform to in our modern world. I suppose that I want to be able to pick this work a part at the seams… and what I’m left with instead is slim pickings. 

But, I’m not going to invalidate the amount of good that & Juliet projects. It’s impactful in its messaging, has all of your favorite 2010 hits, and is a fun way to spend your evening. If that’s what you want, then by all means take your family and your younger siblings, or even just yourself if you got that five-dollar TeenTix ticket like I did! Just know that if you’re looking for something deeper, you won’t necessarily find it here.