Review: & JULIET at Ahmanson Theatre

The Troubies ought to sue-be.

They can’t, and won’t, of course. No lawyerly ink will be spilled. If any of their ranks catch the national tour of &JULIET at the Ahmanson Theatre, the Troubadour Theater Company, L.A.’s clown princes and undisputed masters of merging tales of Shakespeare with pop song catalogs, will probably get a good laugh (and maybe a joke or seven in an upcoming performance) over the fact that their track record of producing jukebox Bard hybrids dates back to the mid-1990s. From DURAN DURANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA all the way back to, sure, ROMEO HALL and JULIET OATES, the Troubies have been doing this longer, zanier, on a lot smaller scale. And, to this critic’s thinking at least, also more skillfully.

It’s not that the much-ballyhooed & JULIET is trash. Between its built-in name recognition (story and songs), musical energy, and some seriously swanky production values (the work of lighting designer Howard Hudson and sound designer Gareth Owen is spectacular), this poppy “sequel” to Shakespeare’s ROMEO AND JULIET offers something to viewers of pretty much all stripes. With its nine Tony nominations, national and international tours, and 1,150 Broadway performances and counting, the David West Read-Max Martin collaboration proves rather emphatically that nobody really needs an original idea or song when you can just as easily get folks rocking out to Britney Spears or Katy Perry. How this behemoth isn’t yet sitting down in Vegas is anybody’s guess.

Fun, the musical sporadically is, and the opening night audience nearly lost their collective minds every time a familiar tune came on or one of the play’s protagonists took a stand in favor of something they considered stand-worthy – usually related to female empowerment. Who would ever have known, prior to this experience, how many ways one could try to coax an “aww” moment out of the ditty “I Want it That Way” by the Backstreet Boys. Amidst all that sweaty energy and exuberance proffered up by Luke Sheppard’s cast sits a tale of two women – one literarily famous, one historically ignored – who don’t actually have much to do beyond rattle their progressive sabers, bust out a Kelly Clarkson or Celine Dion track and then…take their men back? Uh, OK then.

The idea here is that, upon awakening to discover Romeo’s lifeless corpse in the Capulet tomb, Juliet (played by Rachel Webb) faces a crossroads. Rather than take her own life out of grief over the husband she has passionately adored for all of four days, or be dragged into a convent by her parents, she elects to leave Italy with her Nurse Angelique (Kathryn Allison) and non-binary Best Friend May (Nick Drake) accompanying. Their destination is Paris because, well, it’s geographically close and because it affords the creators the opportunity to stick in characters with very French accents.

And why do they thus embark? Because the original fate of Juliet as conceived by  hotshot playwright William Shakespeare (Corey Mach) runs afoul of his wife Anne (Teal Wicks). Not liking the corner into which Juliet has been painted, Anne asks - actually she demands  - to collaborate with her husband to rewrite the play and let Juliet live as a way of manifesting the discontent she feels about her own life.

She also writes herself into the proceedings as April, another FOJ to join Juliet’s traveling party. Shakespeare also gets to join the fun, although he’s constantly rewriting on the sly to mess with Anne’s changes. In France, Lance (Paul-Jordan Jansen) pressures his son Francois (Mateus Leite Cardoso) either to get married or to join the army. Obligingly (or defiantly) Francois promptly ends up betrothed to Juliet, although this union may not actually be what either of them want. Especially since May has fallen in love with Francois at first sight.

Thus it transpire-eth that Shakespeare sings, Anne Hathaway sings, the Nurse sings, the French characters sing and Juliet sings. A lot. Martin’s catalog – which could probably soundtrack a “what if?” sequel to HAMLET, KING LEAR and all three HENRY 6 plays as well – is heavy on the boy band tracks (Backstreet and *NSYNC) along with the aforementioned Britney, Katy, Ke$ha, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande slate. The delight of humming along to these tracks and seeing how they’ve been tweaked to bend to the plot is part of what makes the & JULIET experience so easily digestible.

Director Sheppard and choreographer Jennifer Weber package it all up for maximum crowd-pleasing, keep-the-party rolling impact. Basically if there’s an outfit to flaunt, a sign to illuminate or a moon to scale, someone’s going to town.  How very cool it also is to see so much diversity and body types filling up Paloma Young’s Renaissance-by-way-of-Melrose costumes and dancing up a storm. By the by, & JULIET was at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts at the end of 2024 before a certain politico brought down his iron fist on that institution's programming. Here’s predicting nobody will be warbling Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" back in DC again anytime soon.

Amidst all of the bubble gum pop, librettist Read is doing his best to pay some homage to his source material and to Shakespeare himself. There’s plenty of kudos – some humorous, others not - acknowledging Shakespeare’s impact on literature and Western civilization. None of it feels too high hat. Plenty of folks, after all, can appreciate the comic zing behind a line like “There will never be another Anne Hathaway.”

There most likely will be another & JULIET as long as song catalogs are there to be raided. In the absence of an original idea, Shakespeare - the man and his plays – remains the perfect bloke on whose shoulders to craft these tales. Just look to the Troubies, who have an Elvis-Sophocles mashup due this summer at the Getty Villa. Bottom line, & JULIET isn’t SOMETHING ROTTEN. Nor is it all that remarkable either.

& JULIET plays through September 7 at 135 N. Grand Ave., LA and at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa September 9-21.

Los Angeles Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Hollywood Bowl)

9.2% of votes

2. HAIR (Conundrum Theatre)

5% of votes

3. HEATHERS (Backyard Playhouse: Treetop Production)

4.9% of votes

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