&Juliet
The heartbeat of the jukebox musical &Juliet is the songs of Swedish songwriter, Max Martin. (Roar, It’s My Life, Ooops I Did It Again, to name but three). These songs feel part of our DNA, and the way they are woven into the storyline are at times surprising, occasionally clever and rarely jarring.
The tagline to the show “there’s life after Romeo” gives us the direction of travel. Shakespeare is challenged by his wife, Anne Hathaway, to create a better ending to his play Romeo and Juliet, an ending that gives power to women and to those who don’t conform to stereotypes. She forces him – and us – to address the unquestioned notion that Juliet would kill herself as a reaction to Romeo taking his own life. After all, they have only had a four-day affair and a remarkably quick marriage!
We’re not supposed to take the plot too seriously. Indeed, it often laughs at itself as we are escorted quickly from Verona to Paris, from the rehearsal room to Romeo’s graveside, to a dance party and another wedding. True too, that the juxtaposition between the original Tudor play and the modern song catalogue is presented without question. But hey – this is a musical! And on the positive side its good to see women’s empowerment and sexual flux being normalised.
&Juliet opened in the West End in 2019 (and we admit helped us get over our snobby prejudice of Jukebox musicals). Having played in the West End it transferred to Broadway. This touring production brings the strengths of the original production whilst adding projections and a couple of cloths to enable the production to work on a variety of stages.
Leading the company is Jay McGuiness (of The Wanted and Strictly Come Dancing fame). For us he, somewhat, underplays the role of Shakespeare until the final scene between him and Anne where he seems to find his character. He is accompanied by another Strictly veteran, Ranj Singh, making his musical theatre touring debut. Ranj plays the role well, with solid vocals and timely dance moves. Kyle Cox plays Francois, a somewhat geeky, love interest with a rather appealing vulnerability.
The ensemble is strong. They bring tight and energetic choreography, solid vocals with beautiful harmonic touches and enough of a presence to fill but not dominate the stage. All this and they are chief scene shifters too!
However, it’s the women in this show that give its power. Gerardine Sacdalan is a powerhouse who makes the role truly her own. Sandra Marvin who plays Juliet’s nurse Angelique, brings comic sass and quality vocals to the part. Greater yet than these two is Lara Denning as Anne Hathaway. For us, this is her show! Girl power for girl power! It’s hard to over-praise what Lara brings to this role. She’s funny, timely, vocally impressive and can appear vulnerable too without making anyone else look any less. We’ve seen &Juliet four times since 2019 and Lara’s performance adds to what was already a great part.
Is this the perfect show? Probably not! But it’s worth 5* for Girl Power and for the girls who are bringing their power to the show, and for bringing a West End quality production to the touring stage.
This show was reviewed on the 27th January 2025 at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London where it runs until the 1st February 2025. Full tour dates and tickets can be found here: & Juliet | Official UK Tour Website
Review written by Paul Wood & Ian Worsfold
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Photo credit: Matt Crockett
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