“& Juliet,” now playing at the Fox Theatre through June 1, is a snazzy, poppy, jukebox musical that is built around the conceit of a simple “what if” question. What if Juliet doesn’t kill herself at the end of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”?
The answer is played out against a hit-parade of chart-topping pop songs from the past 25 years, all penned by Swedish songwriter supreme, Max Martin.
The meta setup involves a cocky and confident William Shakespeare (Corey Mach) debuting his new play to his often-overlooked wife Anne (Teal Wicks).
She hates the ending of “Romeo and Juliet” (joining generations of annoyed 9th graders) and snatches William’s quill, writing a new story that begins with Juliet (Rachel Simone Webb) deciding to get on with her life after Romeo’s untimely demise.
With her parents threatening to send her to a nunnery, Juliet sets off for Paris with her nurse Angelique (Kathryn Allison) and best friends May (Nick Drake) and April (Anne, in a role she writes for herself).
While in Paris, Juliet meets Francois (Mateus Leite Cardoso), a shy young man whose overbearing father (Paul Jordan Jansen) gives him the ultimatum of getting married or joining the military.
Juliet and Francios become fast friends, and Juliet realizes that a marriage of convenience would solve both of their problems, keeping her out of the nunnery and him out of the military.
But William snatches back his quill and he and Anne playfully bicker as William wants more conflict to ramp up the drama while Anne wants smooth sailing for her heroine, Juliet. William gains the upper hand long enough to ensure plenty of complications are in store for Juliet and her friends.
“& Juliet” is playful and clever, although it doesn’t scratch much deeper than the relentless soundtrack of ubiquitous tunes made famous by a quarter century of boy bands and pop princesses.
The song list includes “I Want It That Way,” “Oops!…I Did It Again,” “Teenage Dream,” “Since U Been Gone” and “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” just to give you an idea of what you are in for.
“& Juliet” is a fun and frilly time at the theater filled with female empowerment and silly surprises. It’s impossible to know if Shakespeare would approve, but at the very least he would probably get up and dance.
“& Juliet” is now playing at the Fox Theatre through June 1. For tickets call 314-534-1111 or go to metrotix.com.
