Rod Stafford Hagwood

The cast is superb, possibly making the material better than it actually is. They toss off the comedy bits — think Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, Milton Berle — like it’s nothing. Loyal fans (Time Warpies? Back-ers? Outta-timers?) will be pleased that the comedy evokes the humor of the time periods.

“& Juliet” is a crowd pleaser with lots of seat-dancing, head rocking, toe-tapping and lip-syncing in the audience. Even the choreography has bop-till-you-drop TikTok energy. As for the music, the sound is seemingly set on 11; you’ll feel the boom. And if hearing a harpsichord with a Katy Perry or Backstreet Boys tune doesn’t bring a smile to your face, then you’re dead inside.

This cast (non-Equity though you’d never ever know it) walks that tightrope, performing with bravura, singing with crystalline precision and thunderous boom — somehow making it all less overwhelmingly sad through their collective charisma, the desperation and cruelty dialed down just enough to keep the edge, the cut.

This is a funny show. Puns aplenty come flying at you like popcorn kernels, and the maize malapropisms will have you all ears (clearly they’re much better at it than we are). If one joke doesn’t land with you, just wait a few seconds for the next ribald ribbing or one-liner — delivered with the same assured rhythm, like some sort of countrified 1930s screwball comedy.

The Broadway national tour of "MJ the Musical" played in Miami in March and is now back in SoFlo for a run in Fort Lauderdale.

But then you take a look around at the audience. They are spellbound, paying rapt attention, for 2 1/2 hours with a 20-minute intermission. MJ the Musical is a people pleaser. Nothing curious about that.

As he goes from a Brill Building beginner to international superstar, Neil Diamond's facets hit the spotlight, some of them funny and endearing, some not-too-flattering.