& Juliet | Newcastle Theatre Royal
2nd June 2025 | Review by Stephen Stokoe
This was my second viewing of this irreverent and colourful musical, having seen it when it was lighting up London’s West End and I have to say that it has lost none of its charm, wit and sheer glorious exuberance for being on tour.
As they audience enter the auditorium, they are welcomed with appropriate music, a gloriously lit stage adorned as if it were the opening to a Shakespeare play. The cast welcome the audience long before the opening number which sets the tone brilliantly for what follows. As the six strong band launch into Larger Than Life, you are in no doubt that that is exactly what this show is going to be with some dazzling vocals and beautiful choreography to open the show. From this point that laughs, music, dancing and visuals of this pulsating spectacle carry the audience through all the feels to the wonderfully energetic and fun-filled finale.
What of the story? It considers what might happen should Juliet not die at the end of arguably his best known tragedy Romeo and Juliet. That, as a concept, is intriguing enough for this Shakespeare fan but the story also delves into the relationship between the countries biggest Bard and his wife, Anne Hathaway who feels that she can contribute to the writing of this tragedy adding her own female perspective and artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise, male-centric, grim, and boring narrative.
William (Jay McGuinness) is nonplussed by the intrusion but Anne (Lara Denning) is not to be dissuaded and begins to rewrite in her own style. Juliet (Geraldine Sacdalan) is unencumbered by her dearly departed beau Romeo (Benjamin Jackson Walker) and, along with her best friend May (Jordan Broach) and her faithful nurse Angelique (Sandra Marvin) seeks out the life beyond Verona and her demanding mother in the city of love that is Paris.
Not to be overshadowed, Mr Shakespeare keeps a close eye on this adulteration of his play and desperately tries to steer the narrative to align closer to his original design. Cue mistaken identities, resurrections, and all the things for which Shakespeare is famed short of being chased off stage by a bear.
There are in-jokes for Shakespeare aficionados and some wonderful asides to the audience especially from Anne which adds to the fun but keeps the action skipping on apace. In this story, the nurse, always a fabulous part of Romeo and Juliet, also gets a love story which is wonderfully camp and in-keeping with the source material. It really is very clever indeed.
There are some deeper topics presented in this production especially relating to May, to Juliet and her relationship with her mother, to Anne and William and Francois (Kyle Cox) and his father Lance (Lee Latchford-Evans) but the direction (Luke Sheppard) and the book (David West Read) does not labour any points or seek to preach in any way.
The music is all from the extensive back catalogue of Max Martin who has written for and worked with some of the biggest pop stars of recent years including Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, The Backstreet Boys and many more. You will recognise all of the music and their inclusion juxtaposes remarkably well with the Elizabethan age and adds comedic value from start to finish.
There are some amazing visual elements to this production including an incredible lighting design (Howard Hudson), Sound, video and animation (Gareth Owen, Andrzej Goulding) and a great set (Soutra Gilmour.) The band led by musical director Marcus Carter-Adams is exquisite bringing banger after banger to life. It must be a joy to be in that orchestra pit for this one.
All the cast work incredibly hard to bring this story to life and barely have time to breathe as they perform Max Martin’s incredible songs with some stunning and close choreography (Jennifer Weber.)
I really would like to name check everybody in this production from the entire cast, crew, creatives and musicians but I will be here all day if I did. Suffice it to say that this reviewer feels very blessed to have enjoyed another evening in your company and I doubt it will be the last time I settle down to watch & Juliet.
There are some evenings in the theatre that are simply a joy from beginning to end. This was one of them. & Juliet is a roller coaster of comedy, great music, fantastic singing and dancing and unadulterated fun. It is not to be missed.
& Juliet runs at Newcastle Theatre Royal until 7th June.