Stage Write

What if Juliet had awoken from her sleeping potion to discover Romeo had killed himself… BUT she decided not to do the same. So begins & Juliet, the pop musical that reimagines the heroine’s story. The Broadway Across America production is on stage now at Clowes Memorial Hall. It’s a wild ride filled with well-known songs from the 1990s and 2000s. Most jukebox musicals start with a loose idea of a plot and then find songs to fit the bill based on a specific artist’s catalogue. At the opposite end of the spectrum is & Juliet. It starts with the story idea and then selects songs that fit the required dialogue. The entire pop oeuvre is open for the picking, and you can feel the difference. The music is used in clever duets, so each character has their say. More than anything, it reminded me of the TV series “Glee”, which used songs in a similar way. Many scenes feel more like a concert than a musical, with the large cast using hip-hop and street dance to move the story along. Sh...