& Juliet by David West Read and Max Martin
Review by Anar M., Youth Reviewer
"& Juliet" is a hilarious and heartwarming take on the famous Shakespeare play in which Anne Hathaway — Shakespeare’s wife — takes over the writing of the ending, beginning from a simple enough change: rather than killing herself upon Romeo’s death, Juliet chooses to go on with her life. Because Anne Hathaway and Shakespeare are arguing over the plot, it becomes nonsensical at times (Romeo eventually also comes back from the dead, only to find that Juliet has gotten engaged to another guy she’s known for no more than two or three days, this time to avoid being sent to a nunnery). Anne wants Juliet to make her own decisions, but still makes some for her, while Shakespeare wants her to be with Romeo again. The exchanges between them are hilarious at times but occasionally destroy narrative sense.
The best part of this musical, in my opinion, was the song and dance. It takes well-known modern songs — “I want it that way” by the Backstreet Boys; “Roar” by Katy Perry; “Can’t stop the feeling” by Justin Timberlake — and makes only minor adjustments to them (“I want it that way” becomes an argument between Shakespeare and Anne over how the play should end); the end product is a series of highly fitting, engaging, and fun songs which the audience often clapped or sang along to. Dance sequences are seamless and high-quality. Lyrics work well with the story.
The essential message is one of women’s empowerment: Juliet’s journey to taking control of her own story. And, as Anne Hathaway suggests, achieving that goal isn’t an end point — it’s a beginning, for Juliet although not for the musical itself. Anne’s own story, of her early and rushed marriage to Shakespeare followed by years of remaining at home and caring for children while Shakespeare was away writing plays, is also addressed; the musical does an admirable job of giving us a hopeful ending without denying the real problems with her marriage.
Diversity — of colour, gender, and sexuality — abounds. A fair number of the actors are people of colour, including Juliet herself. One character, May, is nonbinary (Anne defends them to Shakespeare by pointing out that in his plays, male actors wear dresses to act as women, who often wear men’s clothes and pretend to be men, so really he has no ground to stand on). May’s love interest, François — also Juliet’s second fiancé — is implied to be gay.
All in all, "& Juliet" is a fun, lyrical, and progressive performance. It’s not Shakespeare, but then again, that’s kind of the point.