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| Lorrinda May Merrypor (Juliet) - Casey Donovan (Angelique) in "& Juliet" |
Music & Lyrics by Max Martin & Friends – Book by David West Read
Directed by
Luke Sheppard – Choreographed by Jennifer Weber
Set Design
by Soutra Gilmour – Costume Design by Paloma Young
Lighting
Design by Howard Hudson – Sound Design by Gareth Owen.
Presented by
Michael Cassel Group in association with MTM/Leyline.
Lyric
Theatre, Sydney until July 12th 2024.
Performance on April 18th reviewed by BILL STEPHENS
There’s nothing new about musicals based on Shakespeare. “The Boys from Syracuse” (Comedy of Errors), “Kiss Me Kate” (The Taming of the Shrew), Your Own Thing” (Twelfth Night), “Two Gentlemen of Verona”, “Boys Own McBeth” (Macbeth) and of course “West Side Story” (Romeo and Juliet) immediately come to mind.
While “&
Juliet” also draws on “Romeo and Juliet” for its inspiration, it also imagines
a situation in which Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway, unhappy that
Shakespeare has allowed Juliet to die at the end of his play tries to persuade him
to let her help him rewrite his play to make Juliet less compliant. In Anne's wonderfully woke version, neither Juliet nor Romeo will die.
Against his
better judgement, Shakespeare reluctantly agrees to go along with his wife’s
suggestions, partly to placate her, but mainly to protect his reputation.
Their
resulting effort, is hugely entertaining, even occasionally thought- provoking, with
new characters who struggle with gender issues and unexpected situations that
force Shakespeare and Anne to re-examine their own marriage and motivations.
All of this is played out in a delightfully boisterous, happy-go-lucky production which conjures up the vibe of a troupe of travelling players while, thanks to Soutra Gilmour’s inventive scenic design, has all the glitz and panache of a major Broadway musical.
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| Rob Mills and the cast of "& Juliet" |
Unsurprisingly, Rob Mills is surprisingly good as Shakespeare. Mills’ devil-may-care cheekiness and natural charm is completely in tune with the irreverent tone of the show and a delightful foil to Amy Lehpamer’s rather bossy Anne Hathaway. Casey Donovan also shines with an ebullient, crowd-pleasing performance as Juliet’s nurse Angelique in a company alive with fresh new faces; many making their professional debuts.
One of these is Yashith Fernando who plays a new character, Francois, invented by Anne for her version of the play. Francois finds himself attracted to May, another new non-binary character, charmingly interpreted by Jesse Dutlow, who explains the situation in the song, I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman.
Jess Dutlow (May) - Yashith Fernando (Francois) in "& Juliet"
Adding additional spice to this particular performance was the fact that a number leading roles were played by covers. Replacing Lorinda May Merrypor, Imani Williams offered a confident, no-nonsense Juliet, her powerhouse voice marking her as an artist to watch.
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| Imani Williams who played Juliet at this performance. |
Jordan Koulos, replacing Blake Appelqvist, was a delightfully dorky Romeo, and James Elmore brought appropriate dignity to the role of Lance, normally played Hayden Tee.
A red hot band directed by Michael Azzopardi, made sure every song harvested from Max Martin’s voluminous songbook sounded like a sure-fire hit, while choreographer, Jennifer Webber kept the cast on its toes with funky, idiosyncratic moves, which made Paloma Young’s eccentric ‘a little bit Shakespearean, a little bit steam-punk and a lot like 'wardrobe find; costumes look sensational.
Okay! It’s not Shakespeare, but is sure is a lot of fun. Go see for yourself.
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| The spectacular finale to "& Juliet" Images provided. This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au |