Review: & Juliet, at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London

My final show. This feels very weird to write about, and my week in London went by in a flash let me tell you. While I opened with a bang with Hairspray, I wanted to end on one too. And what better way, than the reopening night of & Juliet. 

This has been a long time coming, writing about this one, as I have in fact seen it before, but not been able to write about it. Allow me to explain. 

So March 2020, my last trip before everything went to pot, I managed to get day seats for & Juliet with a friend. But we found out it was a concert version of the show, as half of the cast were either ill or on annual leave. It was still amazing, we sat on the front row and had Oliver Tompsett look directly at us; but I didn't think it was fair to write about it at the time as I didn't get the full experience. 

Well now I have, let me tell you!

When Will Shakespeare (played by Tompsett (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change)) reveals to his wife Anne his ending for his new play, Romeo & Juliet, she says what we really all think: "That's shit". 

So she persuades her husband for the two of them to write a new ending - or rather a new beginning. What if Juliet DIDN'T kill herself?  

The show is also a jukebox musical featuring the music of Max Martin? Who? Well turns out the Swedish writer has written songs for some of the most famous artists of the past 20ish years: from the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync, to Britney Spears, Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Katy Perry. Like with Mamma Mia, they don't feel too much out of place or throw the story off either, but work really well into the story, especially how they are arranged. For example I would rather hear this version of (Baby) One More Time over Britney's any day! 

The show both won and was nominated for several Oliviers last year, and it is easy to see why, especially with the cast that has returned. Miriam Teak-Lee (Hamilton) leads the cast as Juliet, with both vulnerability and sass; hoping to see what the stars held for her, before coming to realise her own independence. This was also my first time seeing her in the role, as beforehand I had her understudy Danielle Fiamanya, who was amazing - but it's nice to see Miriam here all the same, reprise the performance she won an Oliver for. 

Speaking of Olivier-winning performances, both Supporting Acting in a Musical categories went to this show, and with Cassidy Janson (Chess) and David Bedella (The Producers), it was easy to understand why. Janson had a strength about her, and a sense of determination to ensure Juliet makes a decision for herself rather than her husband's "destiny" nonsense. Her performance of That's The Way It Is definitely earned that standing ovation. As for Bedella as Lance... hilarious. End of. 

Also in this wonderful cast we had Tompsett (of course), Melanie LaBarrie (Dick Whittington) as Juliet's cynical and long-suffering Nurse, and Tim Mahendran (Spring Awakening) as Lance's son François. 

And finally, the only new person in the principal cast: Alex Thomas-Smith (RENT), who played May, Juliet's best friend. As a non-binary actor playing a non-binary part, it was definitely something special. Their performance of I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman also definitely earned that standing ovation. 

Like I said, it was & Juliet's reopening night and let's just say the atmosphere was.... well, insane. And that was not all down to the free prosecco we were all given (thank you by the way). 

The audience was cheering every performer that came on stage, there were standing ovations a-plenty to the point where I felt a bit like a jack-in-the-box; there was an electricity in the air at seeing this show back. 

And to top it all off, after the bows, and the shower of glitter and confetti (didn't have this last time!), we had an appearance from Max Martin himself! 

& Juliet is definitely a show worth seeing. If you go with a few friends, even better. I went with a couple of girls from the theatre tribe and started the evening with burgers and a bottle of prosecco, ended with an incredible show. The perfect one in fact to end my trip with. 

Now to plan my next trip..... and perhaps eat spaghetti hoops for the next week.....