& Juliet, tour presented by Broadway in Boston at Citizens Opera House, Boston, through November 17. BroadwayinBoston.com
Imagine Anne Hathaway asking husband William Shakespeare why he doesn't depict happy marriages in his plays. Imagine Anne grabbing Will's quill and removing Juliet's suicide from "Romeo and Juliet." David West Read has written this kind of inventive variation on the great romantic tragedy—going as far as having the dramatist and his spouse duel over the former's writing instrument and assume roles in a jukebox musical set to the music of Max Martin and Friends (among them Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and the Back Street Boys.
This invention may sound overly silly to some Shakespeare buffs, but make no mistake. The result—smartly entitled "& Juliet" and exuberantly performed on tour at the Citizens Opera House—does make some important points about female empowerment in a lively take-off that should resonate with both men and women no matter what their respective views about love and musical tastes.
That liveliness—well-paced by director Luke Sheppard the musical—begins even before the musical officially starts as actors wave to entering theatergoer and perform pre-show antics and such acrobatic routines as a flip—all in an eye-catching opening that will likely call to mind the strong audience wow begging of the Tony Award powerhouse "Moulin Rouge." Some savvy audience members may see the influence of the glitzy musical "Six" in designer Paloma Young's often flashy costumes.
There is even a jukebox stage right to signal the eventual repertoire of pop material—all of which will be cleverly associated with the romantic entanglements and plot turns involving not only strong-willed if somewhat vulnerable Juliet but also her confidant Nurse—here named Angelique—as well as a naïve yet likable Parisian named Francois.
Where Shakespeare has Verona and Mantua as his locations, "& Juliet" has Paris play a significant part in the proceedings. A miniature Eiffel Tower prop can signify both a humorously anachronistic presence and a nod to modern updating. Even so, some factors hark back to Shakespeare's play. Once again overbearing Lord and Lady Capulet mean to dictate Juliet's choices—here finding a suitable spouse or heading to a nunnery.
Feeling a kind of parallel empowerment to the still living Juliet, Anne tells Shakespeare that they should work together and "rewrite all of your plays." In this light, Juliet's revelation that Romeo had loved men as well as women in his pre-Juliet days is both unsurprising and reflective of a striking openness to diverse sexual and romantic possibilities. Anne provides a significant if enigmatic love interest for Francois named May. When she declares that "May is whoever May is," a good number of Opera House theatergoers (opening night) cheered on May's gender exploration.
When Shakespeare takes back his quill, he counters Anne's choices with a major surprise of his own. Will a revived Romeo win back Juliet, now very self-assured and self-defined as a woman? Read's provocative book honors Shakespeare's iconic tragic lovers even as he turns "& Juliet" into a winning if wacky what-if proposition.
A very talented tour combines real feeling and strong voices. Rachel Simone Webb sings with great heart as conflicted but ultimately fully validated Juliet—notably on Demi Lovato's "Confident." Corey Mach as Shakespeare and Teal Wicks as Anne make their arguments both revealing and exhilarating. Wicks brings vivid directness to her observation about Will writing most of his sonnets to a young man and her contention that he treats her as cavalierly as the second-best bed he assigns her.
Michael Canu has all of Romeo's insecurity with a very independent Juliet. Kathryn Allison is properly adventurous as Angelique and deep-voiced Paul Jordan Jansen enjoyably expansive as Lance with whom she is reuniting. Mateus Leite Cardoso captures Francois' transformed nerdiness. Nick Drake is a rich-voiced standout as May—particularly on the Kate Perry hit "I Kissed a Girl."
Many audience members rose to dance to the rousing closing Timberlake winner "Can't Stop the Feeling" (opening night). Shakespeare purists may balk at the puns and pop hits. Still, everyone should embrace "& Juliet" as a resonant rallying cry for individual freedom as Juliet finds full assertion.