At the Denver Center, the reimagining of Shakespeare’s rom-tragedy goes in some unexpected directions

It may be hard to imagine enjoying a musical where you pretty much hated every song, but that, for me, was & Juliet. The touring Broadway musical, now at the Denver Center, is driven by a boatload of odious pop songs by Swedish songwriter Max Martin made famous by the likes of Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake et al. All if them are so far from my cup o’ tea as to be in another universe.

Millions of OnStage Colorado Readers: You suck! You just don’t understand the beauty of these songs – they’re awesome, they remind me of my youth blah blah blah.

Acknowledging the fact that I’m unable to appreciate the wonders of “I Kissed a Girl” or “Baby One More Time” or “Larger Than Life,” I was able to listen past them to relish all the other things to enjoy about & Juliet — a high energy, very funny story with the simple premise being: What if Juliet didn’t kill herself at the end of Romeo & Juliet?

The book, written by David West Read (Schitt’s Creek, The Big Door Prize, etc.), is a hilarious mashup that finds Shakespeare himself (Corey Mach) and his wife Anne (Teal Wicks) at the first rehearsal of his new play. Sick of being a stay-at-home mom in Stratford-on-Avon, Anne is there to watch but soon realizes her hubby’s new play — particularly the ending — kinda sucks.

And the assembled cast members pretty much agree — particularly Juliet, played by an absolute fantastic Rachel Simone Webb. She owns the stage from start to finish, with an extraordinary voice and spot-on comic timing that makes her one of the funniest female musical leads to come through the Buell in recent memory.

Mach and Wicks make a dynamic comic duo as the sparring spouses. This Shakespeare is a preening, hubristic man-baby unused to being challenged creatively. When Anne decides she’s deserving of creative control, it sets off a wild series of events as the pair battle over the plot. This version of Anne Hathaway is an empowered woman who almost sounds like she’s ready to dump William if she doesn’t get her way. And he’s highly protective of his reputation and not about to back down — setting up a high-stakes game with the characters as pawns.

Corey Mach and Teal Wicks as the sparring spouses William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway in ‘& Juliet’ at the Denver Center. | Photo: Matthew Murphy

Plot twists

Since he’s in the cast list, it’s no spoiler to note that, despite the conspicuous absence of his name in the title, Romeo (Michael Canu) does indeed make an appearance — and a bombastic, showstopping one at that. Even though only a few days have passed since his supposed end, Juliet has already decamped to Paris and is affianced to a new guy — the virginal, dorky François (Mateus Leite Cardoso). At Anne’s urging, her character has become all girly-boss-y and independent (despite the fact that, per the original, she’s not quite 14).

She’s got a few bones to pick with Romeo, chiding him for not even bothering to see if she was truly dead before offing himself and, yeah, killing her cousin. What’s worse, she’s learned from other Verona women that she was by no means his first and only love — driven home when they all quote from his balcony speech.

Other storylines run through the action, including a renewed romance between Juliet’s nurse Angélique (Naima Alakham) and François’ father Lance (Paul-Jordan Jansen) and another with Juliet’s bestie Mae (Nick Drake), who’s also crushing on François. Through it all is a barrage of beautifully choreographed numbers directed by Jennifer Weber and performed by a super-charged ensemble against a simple set.

Romeo (Michael Canu) returns in ‘& Juliet’ at the Denver Center. | Photo: Matthew Murphy

Music and messages

Despite my own lack of appreciation for the soundtrack, Max Martin’s adaptations of the pop hits he wrote for others are quite clever, pairing the lyrics pretty well with the action on stage. (As in Mamma Mia!, it’s not always an exact match.) All of it is well performed by the small but powerful orchestra offstage.

It’s easy to look at & Juliet and think it’s pure candy, but Read’s book takes time to insert some modern-day elements into the story to make you think just a bit. Beyond the feminist notes, there’s a good deal of gender fluidity — particularly around the Mae character and his interaction with a somewhat interested François.

Patriarchal behavior by Shakespeare and Lance is called out and shot down — often with extreme prejudice. It’s interesting to note that this 2019 musical is already starting to sound quaint vis-a-vis its messages of inclusion and acceptance given our current shit show.

With its racy themes and language, this might not be a good one for the under-13 set, but for anyone else looking for a fun night out at the theatre, it’s hard to beat the appeal of & Juliet. Grumpy old men like me just have to metaphorically hold our noses at all the pop song dreck.