Review # 34: & Juliet

 Hello and welcome back to another Broadway review! This time I checked out & Juliet! Find out what this show is all about in this review! 

Plot: & Juliet is a 'what if' spin on the iconic Romeo & Juliet. While William Shakespeare is preparing for the opening night of Romeo & Juliet, his wife, Anne Hathaway critzites William about the play's famous ending. "What if Juliet didn't kill herself?" Anne takes matters into her own hands as she writes her own version of the classic tale. Romeo's death was only Juliet's beginning. Instead of committing suicide, Juliet decides to take a trip to Paris with her Nurse, and her two friends May and April (who happens to be Anne's self-insert in the story). What will happen in Paris and will Juliet move on from Romeo? Find out in & Juliet. Unfortunately, as much as the show's premise sound fun and interesting, the show was far from that. I really wanted to enjoy this show however that many things in the show prevented me from liking it. For example, this show was supposed to be a romantic-comedy musical, however, most if not all of the jokes fell flat. As an audience member, I really wanted to laugh and enjoy myself, but I was straight-faced the entire show. I expected more from the writers of Schitt's Creek, who happened to work on this show. Another thing that bothered me about the show was the lack of the title character. Juliet felt like a side character in her own show. It was only at the end where Juliet finally got to shine. The show would have been better if there weren’t so many side-plots with the other characters to take away from Juliet. Last but not least, this show really tried to be 'woke' and 'hip with the kids' but it failed miserably. The plot is lack-luster and there are other musicals on Broadway that have better written stories than this. 

Characters: As I said before with the plot, the characters also run flat. Other than showing off female empowerment and "confidence" there isn't much to say about Juliet. She ends up getting engaged again with the wrong man. Other than being clueless on what to do with her situation, there isn’t much else to say about Juliet. Anne/April and William/'The Taxi Driver' are very annoying. Both try to be "hip" and "cool" but fails miserably. What bothers me the most is that Anne prefers if Juliet didn’t end up with anyone because of her relationship problems with William. Just like Juliet, Anne also doesn’t have any good character traits. The other characters are bland and forgettable as the rest of the show. The only semi-interesting character I found tolerable was the character we were supposed to forget, Romeo. Romeo made his entrance at the end of act one because as it turns out, Romeo did not kill himself either. He gave off this edgy, cool, e-boy vibe that made it a little bit fun and interesting to watch. He also made act two slightly better than act one. Even though Romeo was better then all the other characters in this show, his presence wasn't enough to save the show. 

Songs: This musical is another jukebox musical featuring songs written by Max Martin such as "Baby One More Time", "Domino", "Show Me Love", "Teenage Dream", "It's My Life", "Blow", "I Want It That Way" "Larger Than Life", "Everybody", "Confident", and "Roar". I love most of these songs and some of them did fit it with the narrative they were telling. However, I felt that the show wanted to add as much of Max Martin's songs as possible. This also took a lot away from the story as well. I also felt it was a lack of originality on there end. Maybe instead of using an old pop song Max Martin wrote that doesn’t fit the narrative, maybe they could have gotten him to write some new songs for this show that does fit in with the storyline they were trying to tell. 

Sets: The sets were one of the only things I liked. I enjoyed seeing Juliet's world come to life in Paris and in Verona and also enjoyed the bits where you get to see the 'backstage' of the show where Anne and William are having their arguments. I also liked the use of both screen and sets. It reminded me of how the musical, Anastasia did their sets. So if you are interested in set design then I recommend checking this show out. 

Overall, I am disappointed in how & Juliet turned out to be. I recommend going to see Moulin Rouge if you are interested in seeing a jukebox musical or Six, if you want to see a musical that is not a jukebox but still has that pop-music feel. I written reviews on both of them if you want to check them out. However, if you want a girls night out or seen everything on Broadway or a big fan of Max Martin's music then check this musical out. However, I do not recommend taking young children to this musical because of cursing and one bed scene. Other then that go see how the show rewrites Juliet's ending in & Juliet.