& Juliet is Fabulously Fresh in it’s Opening Performance in St. Louis
-by Ashley Cox
Tuesday was opening night for the last show of the 2024-2025 Broadway season at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis. “& Juliet” is a jukebox style musical retelling of what should have happened at the end of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In this version, instead of offing herself, Juliet realizes she has an entire life ahead of her. Using the song catalog of Max Martin, aka the man behind every chart topper from the late 90s through the Aughties (that is what we have decided to call them? Yikes), and Juliet and friends go on a new adventure to Paris. William and wife Anne Hathaway (no, not that one) join in as both storytellers, rewriting the play with a magical quill and Mary Sue-ing themselves into the action.
I LOVED this musical. Not a shocker since a lot of my hard-earned allowance money was spent at Sam Goody buying the CDs of the artists that Martin wrote for most prolifically. Backstreet Boys and Britney’s song catalogs are heavily relied upon. But beyond just the music, the costuming was divine. Much like SIX, it was an electric blend of modern and historic silhouettes. Plus it was just cute, I wanted to wear it.
The cast stand outs for me included Rachel Simone Web as Juliet. She radiated on stage. Also, Jaydon Nget as Francois (normally played by Mateus Leite Cardoso) and Paul-Jordan Jansen as Lance… Nget’s nervous-shaky voice before transforming into such a beautiful tenor. Paul-Jordan had the entire audience laughing as the randy father reunited with his lost love.
I also want to take note of the beautiful story of May portrayed by STL native, Nick Drake. May is the beautiful non-binary best friend of Juliet who has to navigate micro-aggressions to full on aggressions just existing as who they are. Our real-world non-binary and trans communities are still under attack with an ever-increasing spotlight. Protect people who want to live their lives as who they are, be free to love who they love, go to the bathroom when they need to, play the sports they love to play.
Support your local arts this summer at the Muny, our fabulous museums and galleries, and Shakespeare in the park. The Fox continues to have events and their Saturday tour. The 2025-2026 Broadway season kicks off October 7th with Life of Pi, season tickets go on sale May 28.