Review: & JULIET at Straz Center

Created by the Emmy®‑winning writer from Schitt’s Creek, & Juliet lit up the Straz last night with a riot of color, comedy, and unapologetic girl‑power energy, but what made this production unforgettable was how boldly it reclaimed the women who had lived too long in Shakespeare’s margins. The soundtrack may have been a love song to Millennials, but this GenX reviewer had an absolute blast hearing these pop anthems reimagined.

Anne Hathaway, the barely mentioned wife of William Shakespeare, delivered some of the sharpest lines of the night. She opened the show by confronting her playwright husband about the terrible ending of Romeo and Juliet. She questioned why Juliet had to die and wondered what might happen if the story allowed a different outcome. She asked Shakespeare, “Are you a strong enough man to write a stronger woman?” and the entire story unfolded as her answer. Crystal Kellogg’s Anne was a force, funny and grounded with a voice that could stop the room.

Lois Ellise’s Juliet was phenomenal, bringing innocence, rebellion, and comic spark to a character we all thought we knew. Her voice soared, and she wasn’t alone. Angelique, Juliet’s nursemaid, played by Kathryn Allison, matched her note for note. Together, they formed powerhouse vocalists who lifted the score into something transcendent. Every time Juliet, Angelique, or Anne stepped into a number, the audience leaned forward, knowing they were about to be hit with something extraordinary.

The ensemble around them delivered humor, heart, and high‑energy choreography, but the women at the center - their voices, their agency, their insistence on rewriting the narrative - made the night soar.

While there were other brilliant men in the cast, including Noah Marlowe as shy Francois, Paul Jordan Jansen as his overbearing father, Lance, and Joseph Torres as the multi‑two‑timing Romeo, the show still belonged to the women. Especially now.

The plot of Juliet escaping her controlling parents only to land in a marriage arranged to protect Francois from being forced into the military added a surprising twist with Britney Spears’ “Oops!... I Did It Again.” It was a clever reminder that even when you run from one cage, another can be waiting. Watching Juliet recognize that truth and step into her own power was one of the most moving arcs of the night.

The back‑and‑forth between Shakespeare and Anne as narrators was cheeky fun, especially as they kept rewriting the story from the sidelines and then leaping into the action as characters themselves. CJ Eldred’s Shakespeare played beautifully against Kellogg’s Anne, their tug-of-war giving the show a playful, meta-theatrical heartbeat.

Juliet’s Best Friend, May, played with warmth and honesty by Nico Ochoa, was another standout. Their nonbinary identity was treated with the kind of effortless acceptance that should be standard in storytelling. Juliet’s line (possibly paraphrased), “You are not he or she. You are my friend,” landed with quiet beauty. I teared up when May found their true love and yet again when Juliet finally claimed her own agency with Katy Perry’s powerful “Roar.”

& Juliet wasn’t just a musical, but a reminder that stories evolve when women don’t hesitate to take the plume.

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