Musical theatre / & Juliet, directed and choreographed by Charlotte Morphett and James Tolhurst-Close. At The Q, Queanbeyan, until April 26. Reviewed by SAMARA PURNELL.
& Juliet bursts into life with an athletic dance number, popping and locking and breakdancing, belting out the Backstreet Boys’ Larger than life.
The ensemble were costumed in ruffles, corsets, mesh tops and Adidas sneakers, dancing on the checkerboard stage to songs from ye olde jukebox.
David West Read (of Schitt’s Creek fame) wrote the musical, along with Max Martin’s music and lyrics & Juliet has recently been performed professionally around Australia. Directed and choreographed by Charlotte Morphett and James Tolhurst-Close for this local production by Free-Rain, & Juliet is a riotous romp through the aftermath of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway, suggests to Will that a better ending to his latest masterpiece might be that Juliet doesn’t kill herself just because Romeo didn’t bother to check if she was properly dead and killed himself and instead she went off to explore the world with her friends, under the questionable chaperoning of Anne herself and follow other opportunities.
So, instead of marrying Paris, or dying for Romeo, she GOES to Paris.
The set is fun. Huge books for the cast to perform on, props wheeled on and off by the cast, smoothly done, and cute Parisian props (miniatures by Sarea Coates) that are carried around by cast.
& Juliet is told through a stream of boy-band hits from the ’90s and beyond, Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Adam Lambert and more. The live band produced a good balance between it and the singers, keeping a lively tempo, conducted skilfully by Callum Tolhurst-Close, while playing keyboard. Laura Lay on violin had some particularly lovely moments throughout.
The cast displays some beautiful singing especially Chloe Stevensen as Juliet when singing the softer numbers or singing in her head voice. Across the cast of talented singers, the quieter moments were where they shone, as when the songs are belted out at times it was quite loud and the tonal genre of these modern musicals can be a lot on the ears.
There were a few minor pitchy moments, but that didn’t detract from the quality of the production and some sweet harmonising throughout. Strangely, Will has an English accent, with the rest of the cast, including his wife, performing with American accents. The exception being Lance who has the overblown French accent used to comedic effect.
The sweet-faced Joshua Kirk as Juliet’s queer BFF May, had genuine chemistry in the duets with Francois (Tate Sissian) with Whataya Want From Me? a highlight. Kirk’s I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman was poignantly perfect. The potential to go all out with the character of May was resisted by Kirk, who brought a vulnerability and coyness to the role, keeping them endearing and likeable.
Nurse Angelique (Katie Lis) is a role requiring good comedic timing as well as strong acting and singing and Lis is delightfully well-cast in this role. The scenes between her and Lance (David Santolin) had the audience in stitches.
Vanessa Valois struck the right balance of comedy and gravitas, with strong vocals and a touching duet between Anne and Juliet with Celine Dion’s That’s the Way It Is. Valois costuming was appealing, especially the blue corset she appears in toward the end.
The dance numbers, which consisted of simple, sharp and contained movements, filled the stage nicely and were well suited to the cast, who all performed the choreography competently and with high energy.
The song and dance mashup of One Less Problem and Can’t Feel My Face was a highlight and mimicked the face-offs between the Montagues and Capulets. The show climaxes with Juliet belting out Katy Perry’s Eye of the Tiger.
Anyone who enjoyed the musicals Six, American Idiot or Cruel Intentions will love this. It helps if familiar with the songs, but speaking to some who weren’t, it is no less enjoyable. The jokes are corny, but genuinely funny.
& Juliet showcases female protagonists, the woman behind the man behind the pen, and a not-so-dead Romeo. It’s not devoid of second chances for the self-focused males, however. So long as they keep in mind She Wants It That Way…
This quality, high-energy, fun and funny production of boy-band bangers and girl power was well deserving of the rowdy wolf whistles and enthusiastic standing ovation it received.
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