Review: &JULIET, King's Theatre

William Shakespeare (Matt Cardle) is confident that his new play Romeo and Juliet will be a hit. His wife, Anne Hathaway (Lara Denning) has a night off from looking after their children and she's come to watch the play- she's not quite so sure it's the masterpiece he thinks it is and she'd like to make some tweaks to the script.

Anne's version starts when Juliet discovers Romeo has taken his own life. Instead of killing herself as well, Juliet decides to move on. With the help of her best friend May (Jordan Broatch), Nurse (Sandra Marvin) and brand new best friend April (Lara Denning again as Anne, having written herself a part in the play) they set off for the bright lights of Paris. At this evening's performance, Juliet was played by Psalms-Nissi Myers-Reid.

&Juliet is a jukebox musical absolutely bursting with hit pop songs. Every song is instantly recognisable and this is a show that really embraces the jukebox musical, working the opening lines of the songs into the dialogue. Highlights include "Roar", "Everybody (Backstreets Back)" and "Blow" which are all accompanied by Jennifer Weber's spectacular choreography. This is a show with many key characters but also relies on a huge effort from the whole ensemble. 

David West-Read's book is packed with humour and wit that lands with the audience of all ages. Juliet's story has been transformed into a tale of female empowerment and Myers-Reid is absolutely sublime in the titular role. There are a lot of layers to &Juliet and multiple plot lines are running alongside that manage to cover love and relationships across all ages and genders. There's also an interesting examination of the relationship between William and Anne, a woman who has almost been written out of history yet must have had so much influence on his work.

&Juliet is a bright, bold and ballsy musical packed with fantastic contemporary songs and wonderful performances- a must-see.

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