Review: & Juliet (Touring)

Monday, 19th November 2024 at Leeds Grand Theatre

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This fun-loving musical imagines life for Juliet after Romeo – y’know, had she resisted the urge to plunge that dagger into her broken heart and instead launched herself into her Girl Power Era.

The plot? Anne Hathaway (a hilarious, endearing and vocally gifted Lara Denning) is fed up with husband William Shakespeare (a very playful, swaggering Matt Cardle) writing shoddy love stories, and wants a chance to improve his plans for the ending of Romeo and Juliet – with very entertaining consequences. The pair write themselves into scenes as beautifully incongruous characters and spend time bickering on the sidelines about the trajectory of the tale, while the rest of the cast act out this updated take on the classic play.

Juliet is of course the core of this show and Gerardine Sacdalan owns the stage as a triple threat. With vocals to die for and a buoyant energy that never wavers, she leads the charge to female empowerment with aplomb – joined by Sandra Marvin’s charistmatic and very funny nurse, Angeliqué. Ranj Singh is a great hammy love interest for our nurse and Jordan Broatch adds some nuance and fun as Juliet’s bestie, May. As for the menfolk courting Juliet, Kyle Cox’s Françios is the adorably unsure, jittery type while Jack Danson’s Romeo is more besotted jester than heartthrob. 

Book by David West Read is a Gen Z smorgasbord, from “yas Queens” to “iconic” pic poses and TikTok era timeframes on scenes, it feels like this show is made for today’s sassy youth – an impression swiftly underscored by Paloma Young’s costume designs, marrying Elizabethan ruffs with hip hiked hemlines and vibrant tones. Directed by Luke Sheppard, the sass and the modern thinking around gender and gender roles is all part of the refreshing sense of modernity to the piece, and hammers home the liberating feel of the show as a whole. 

However, the show also runs the risk of too many scenes feeling more surface level than they should be – with the incredibly generous musical moments (29 in total) replacing what might otherwise be a meaningful exchange of dialogue, there is a sense that the emotional journey of the piece runs more tepidly than it should, all things considered.

Max Martin and Friends provide the musical choices, and it’s essentially a Britney Spears fest with some supporting numbers by 90s and 00’s boy bands and vocal icons like Pink and Kelly Clarkson, with a few more up to date numbers thrown in. The songs are cleverly selected and the lyrics are apt for their scenes, providing all the right tonal ebbs and flows to tell this perky story through pop songs at original tempo (given ever more energy by Jennifer Weber’s choreography and Howard Hudson’s concert style lighting), or slowed to ballad form.

& Juliet is sure to be a hit with fun-loving audiences, particularly those who enjoyed the kick-ass vibes of Six and like to see classics revamped with a rebellious flair.

& Juliet is at Leeds Grand until November 30th 2024 – more information and tickets can be found here.