Interview: Crystal Kellogg of & JULIET at Proctors
Forget the balcony. Forget the poison. What if Juliet just decided to live her best life?
Forget the balcony. Forget the poison. What if Juliet just decided to live her best life? That's the premise of & JULIET, the infectiously fun jukebox musical packed with pop anthems that's taking audiences by storm on its global tour. I sat down with the entertaining and lovely Crystal Kellogg, who is playing Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway on the road, to talk tour life, empowerment, and why this is the glow-up Shakespeare never knew his heroine needed.
Afternoon, Crystal! How's tour going?
It's going great! We started in Sacramento at the end of September so we've been going for just over 6 months now and we've gone coast to coast so far. Sometimes I'm like, “What, where were we last week? Where are we this week?” [laughing]
We're excited to have you up here in Schenectady next month. Have you been upstate?
I don't think I have! I've been on a couple tours before and I was trying to remember but I don't think I have.
Well, Proctors is a beautiful theater. You’ll really enjoy it!
Yeah, that's been one of the fun things about tours is seeing all the different theaters around the country.
Let’s start with what first inspired you to start performing?
I would say that it's in my family bloodline. My parents both have a love for musical theater, drama, singing: my mom plays the guitar and both of them sing. I also watched my two older sisters performing on stage in high school and they both went to a performing arts school for a little bit. I saw them up there and I was like, “Wait, I want to do that!” At age 13, I really decided this is what I want to do and it never really changed. Before that I wanted to be a veterinarian. My love for animals still stands, but it was too much science for me!
Prior to & JULIET, what have been some of your favorite roles?
You know, it's interesting when people say, “What are your dream roles?” I don't know if I ever really had dream roles until after I did them. Some of my favorite roles were roles I didn't even realize I would love so much. Obviously, Anne Hathaway in & JULIET is a role that I really connect to. One of my other favorites has been Sally Bowles in CABARET. I loved that role so much! I've also done a lot of Rogers and Hammerstein. I'm kind of new to the pop contemporary world; I started out doing choir and more legit singing. I was Nellie in SOUTH PACIFIC; I've been Anna in THE KING AND I. I did CINDERELLA and Maria in THE SOUND OF MUSIC. All of these more classical musicals have a soft place in my heart, I guess you could say.
This is not your first tour or first Broadway show. How is tour vs. being on Broadway?
It's really more about the logistics. I always tell people when you go on Broadway, it’s exciting because of how valued it is in the arts. But it is also “just another theater” and you're getting to perform for people. I really think the difference in the two is not the quality, but that you get to go home at night. Being on Broadway was really great because I live in New York City and I got to go home to my husband and my dog and settle in. Tour is very much, in a good and bad way, unsettling. You get to explore a ton. I get to see so many different places around the country and interact with so many different people. You get to share this experience and this story with so many more people than you would on Broadway. But you have to have a love for traveling. You're just kind of uprooted from your constant life. It's an adventure!
Do you have a preference?
I think it's dependent on the stage of life that I'm in. Before I was married, I didn't need to have as much stability so it was very fun to go on tour and and experience new places. Previously, when I was on tour, I had so many subletters come in and out of my apartment. Now I think, as much as I love tour, I have a home base: it really is just our place, a home to go to. There are plusses and minuses for both, but I do enjoy the home aspect. Luckily my husband can work remotely, so he does get to come out and join me for a while!
That’s really wonderful! Well, let’s dig into & JULIET. How familiar were you with the show before being cast?
I was pretty familiar with it. Back in 2019, when they were doing the pre-Broadway tryout, I had submitted a self-tape, and was originally put on hold to understudy Anne Hathway. Ultimately, I didn't book it. But, I had read the script, and I remember reading it and cackling! I just thought it was so clever and so funny and had so much heart to it. I was like, “I have to be in this show! This is so good.” Then it came to Broadway and I saw the show a couple times. And again, from reading the script to it being onstage, it gave me everything that I wanted. I think this became the right timing for me, I like to say, because this was the first time I auditioned for & JULIET in person…actor culture is very much about self-tapes first nowadays. So, in May 2025, I got to go audition in person and showcase what I can do. It makes a big difference in person: you get a sense of the person's personality outside of the lines they're given. Just as much as their talent, I think that it's about liking the person and wanting to work with them.
So for people who aren't familiar with & JULIET, how would you describe the show to them?
The show itself is a really big party! There's lots of confetti and glitter and so much fun. It's filled with pop music ranging from the late 90s to the early 2010s - all recording artists that you would know. I think that draws people into the show because you're going to be singing along and dancing in your seat. On top of that, you add the layer of Shakespeare. They've given us a topic that everybody knows: Romeo and Juliet - the most famous Shakespearean play out there. We take that and turn it on its head and ask the question, “What happens if Juliet decided to continue on without Romeo?” So she goes on her own adventure to Paris and she meets friends and, slowly but surely, starts to kind of figure out what her own identity is. The show is a lot about identity, self-acceptance, confidence, and self-worth. I think a lot of people will be able to relate to at least one, if not multiple characters in the show. I play Anne Hathaway, who is the less-well-known wife of Shakespeare. The show opens with Shakespeare and the opening night of Romeo and Juliet. Anne has come because she's very excited to see it, and Shakespeare tells the summary of what's going to happen, and she says, “No, I hate that. What if Juliet decided to go a different route?” And Shakespeare begrudgingly agrees, and they start writing this story together, and then a bit of chaos ensues. It's neat the way that they've written it. The script writer is actually David West Read - he was one of the head writers of Schitt's Creek, the really popular TV show. So obviously the show is going to be clever. It's going to be really funny. It's going to have a ton of heart. And it explores these different relationships with a lot of humanity and authenticity, but also with sarcasm and a little feistiness.
That sounds like so much fun! So, what's your favorite moment in the show? Either performing or watching from backstage?
I have a couple. One of my favorite numbers in the show is a standoff between Juliet and Romeo. It's a mashup of songs: Arianna Grande’s song “Problem” and The Weeknd’s song “I Can't Feel My Face.” (Again, these are songs that people will know!) And the choreography by Jennifer Weber is incredible. It's such a power moment. I think one of my favorite to perform is my big song, Celine Dion's “That's the Way It Is.” The rest of the show is so high energy, and this is one of those moments we get to slow down a little bit. It's the song that Juliet and Anne have by themselves and it's really just exploring where they are in their life at that point, especially for Anne with her relationship with Shakespeare. It's just a beautiful moment. It really is. And I love singing that song. It feels very powerful but also cathartic in a way.
Wonderful! Well with this big party happening onstage, I’m sure there are some fun stories from the road!
It's live theater. You always have some kind of technical difficulties every once in a while. We do have contingency plans for all of those things, so the audience may not notice. But one of the most surprising ones, we were in North Charleston and my family was there. They were seeing the show for the first time. At the very end, Juliet comes out for her final bow. Typically, she bows one time and we have all of this stuff that happens after. Well, this time, she bows - and all the power goes out! So we're just all standing there in shock. Our head carpenter comes on, our stage managers come on and we go off stage. That's where the show ended. We were just all like, “Oh, okay. I guess that's it.” So things like that can happen sometimes.
Last question: if you could give Anne any advice, what would you tell her?
That's such a good question. Honestly, I think I learn a lot from her! The first thing that popped into my mind is, keep doing what you're doing. In the show, she really truly finds her voice. We don't know as much about Anne as we do about Shakespeare. Shakespeare is the one in the spotlight, the one who is famous, and she is the one who is steady and the one at home and the one who's created their life for them and raising her kids. I think that Anne is very strong in that way. Anne respects Shakespeare, but also challenges him and she tries to find what is meaningful and important to her. She has this edge of feminism that in that time period you wouldn't really see. I think in a way that's why their marriage works too, because Shakespeare knows that about her and also begrudgingly respects it. There's something about her that teaches me to just keep being brave and keep going after what I want and not being afraid to speak up and use my voice. I love her. She's awesome. I'm continuously fulfilled by her, partly because she's written so well and the show is so good, but also because I connect with her.
Anything else audiences members should know before coming to & JULIET?
The show is just a bundle of fun, and it's something that I really, truly enjoy sharing with the audience. You're going to laugh. You're going to maybe tear up, maybe cry, but you'll also find something that's relatable to you, no matter who you are. That's what's really amazing about this show is that it truly teaches people self-acceptance. It's about identity.
& JULIET arrives in Schenectady at Proctors on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026 and runs through Sunday, May 3rd, 2026.
