& Juliet is a 2019
Jukebox Musical featuring the music of
Max Martin, with a book by David West Read. The story focuses on a fictional "
What If?" scenario in which Juliet hadn't died at the end of
William Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet. It opened at the Manchester Opera House on September 10, 2019 before premiering on London's West End on November 20 that year. It later opened at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on November 17, 2022 on Broadway.
This musical contains examples of:
- Age Lift: Invoked by Anne Hathaway because, "she doesn't want to go clubbing with a fourteen-year-old." As such, Juliet is now in her twenties.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: May, Juliet's Non-Binary friend, who describes the struggles and persecution they face as they are "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman".
- Arranged Marriage: Lance is pushing for Francois to marry either a noble woman or princess, under the threat that if he does not, he will be shipped off to the army.
- Ascended Extra: Angelique. While Juliet's Nurse in the original story is an important character, she has no agency or plot thread of her own. Here, Angelique comes face to face with her former boss/paramour and must sort out her feeling on the matter.
- Back from the Dead: At the end of Act 1 William reinserts Romeo back into the story to Juliet's surprise and Anne's anger, "It's My Life".
- Bedmate Reveal: Angelique is in bed, when the lights come up on the scene, only for Lance to appear from beneath the covers as well.
- Boy Band: Lance and his "sons" reform their old group before Francois and Juliet's wedding, "Everybody".
- Calling the Old Man Out: Juliet tears down her parents' views, condemning them for the scorn they show her, all for falling in love with the son of a family they didn't like.
Juliet: What kind of parents would rather see their daughter dead, than married to a boy from the wrong family!?!
- Canon Foreigner: May, April, Francois and Lance serve as simultaneous real life and In-Universe examples, as they were created for the musical, and within it Anne creates them as part of her Romeo and Juliet rewrite.
- Cool Big Sis: April/Anne forms this connection to Juliet, pushing her to think of herself just as much as she thinks of other people.
- Creator's Oddball: In-Universe, after agreeing to Anne's "Happy Ending" for Juliet, William admits he likes it but is immediately returning to writing tragedies.
Anne: Are you happy, William?
William: I am. But after this I'm going to write so many tragedies.
Anne: (slightly annoyed) I know.
William: Like, really dark shit!
Anne: I know!
- Dawson Casting: Invoked by Anne, trying to pass off everyone in their 20s...
William:
(to Anne) You're
all in your 20s?
(Anne shoots him a Death Glare) - Dance Party Ending: The show ends with William and Anne leading the ensemble in a performance of "Can't Stop The Feeling".
- Then the curtain call itself ends with an encore of "Roar", with Juliet leading the entire company in a reprise of the choreography.
- Defied Trope: Despite William and Anne trying to control the story, overtime the characters take on a life of their own.
- Death of the Author: In-Universe, William begins to feel that Anne has started to apply this to his work, even demoting him to the Carriage driver, thus he retakes control of the story in several ways, to Anne's anger.
- Eleven O'Clock Number: "Roar", in which Juliet resolves and asserts her authority and control of her own life.
- Within the show proper "Stronger" stands as this, as she defies her parents, Francois and Romeo, stating she has to make the right decision for her, not for everyone else.
- Endearingly Dorky: Romeo, while Juliet may find a bunch of his grand declarations of love "Love Me Like You Do" slightly annoying, she is still charmed enough by them that she admits she does still love him.
- Eternal Sexual Freedom: Needless to say, individuals at the time wouldn't have been as accepting of Francois and May's relationship.
- Funny Foreigner: Both Angelique and Lance have over the top accents, and over the top mannerisms.
- Girl's Night Out Episode: Anne views the entire show as this, given its one of the few times she has a chance to be something other than a wife and mother.
- Good Is Not Soft: Juliet may be sweet and kind, but after learning to stand up for herself, not even William can stop her from doing what's right for her.
- Gratuitous Iambic Pentameter: The build up to "I Kissed a Girl" is done in this matter as May and Francois have a conversation. Then again it is being overseen by The Bard himself...
- Happily Married:
- In the end while the two argue, William is willing to compromise on the story with Anne, as while he loves his plays, he loves his wife even more.
- In the same vein, Romeo and Juliet, though they decide that even though they are married, they should probably have a first date too.
- Helicopter Parents: Lord and Lady Capulet are pushing for Juliet to join a Nunnery, so as to have her finally forget about Romeo. When Romeo is brought back to life, they push even harder that she marry Francois, knowing full well that she is still in love with Romeo, and later tries to force her to move back to Verona with them after the wedding falls through.
- In Love with Love: Romeo's problem, while he continually makes sincere grand romantic gestures towards Juliet, and in turn she does confirm she loves him in return, at the same time he doesn't seem to understand, what she had come to realize, that the two barely knew each other when they eloped.
- Jukebox Musical: All of the songs, include the new song "One More Try", written specifically for the show, are from the catalogue of songwriter Max Martin.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: While Romeo is a dimwit, his charms and kind nature make up for it, and he does genuinely love Juliet.
- Lady Killer In Love: As Juliet discovers at his funeral, Romeo was the object of desire of plenty of the women of Verona, and quite a few of the men as well, "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely". However as she also learn as time goes on, the only person he ever loved was Juliet.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- While disguising themselves as Lance's missing sons, Romeo goes out of the way with a horrible French accent.
William: (to Romeo) We're not doing accents!
Lance: (dropping his outrageous accent and speaking normally) We're not doing accents?
- When William is proclaiming his love for Anne.
William: There will never be another
Anne Hathaway!
(both he and Anne stop and blankly stare at the audience) - Love Martyr: Anne for William, "That's the Way It Is", whereas William was living the life of a famous playwright in London, Anne was busy in Stratford-upon-Avon tending to the family and raising their daughters, never knowing the next time she would see her husband.
- Marriage of Convenience: After the two meet and form an instant friendship, Juliet and Francois agree to help each other out, by marrying to get their parents off their backs. That way she won't be forced into a convent and he won't be sent to the war. Problems arise however when Francois starts falling in love with May, and Juliet's "husband" is brought back to life.
- Marry the Nanny: Or Nurse in this case, as Angelique was the Nurse tending to Lance's mortally ill wife. During that time the two had fallen in love, but after his wife died, Angelique ran away in guilt. Meeting years later, however, Juliet pushes Angelique to act on her feelings, and the two marry in the finale.
- The Masochism Tango: Anne reveals to the audience the plight she faced as wife to an absent, emotionally stunted playwright, and how in his will he left her "his second best bed", all the while performing an actual tango.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent:
- Neither Shakespeare (Stark Sands) nor Anne (Betsey Wolfe) on the original Broadway soundtrack make any attempt to sound English.
- Likewise William doesn't attempt a French accent when masquerading as Lance's son. Neither does May. Romeo "tries" but William puts a quick stop to it.
- In the same vein Francois doesn't speak with a French accent like his father.
- One True Love: After William listens to Anne's version of the story, and agrees to amend his vision of "Romeo and Juliet", Anne is willing to concede that maybe Romeo and Juliet are indeed meant for each other. To that end she and William go about rewriting the ending, in a pseudo second "Balcony" scene, where the two young lovers openly admit their feelings to each other, and plan their first date.
- Official Couple: Zigzagged. Initially, the show is all about defying this, as while Juliet loves Romeo, she wonders that maybe they weren't really meant to be. By the end however even Anne admits, Romeo truly is Juliet's soulmate.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Anne/April explains to Juliet that both she and William had to endure the death of their son, which she feels both bonded them and drove them apart.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: When Romeo reveals himself at Juliet's second wedding, Anne quickly notes how everyone could see through the disguise.
- Parental Love Song:
- Angelique assures Juliet, that no matter what, she's "Fuckin' Perfect" in her eyes.
- Later, "Shape of My Heart", Lance comes to accept Francois's relationship with May, and makes it clear he loves his son, no matter what.
- Punny Name: Francois declares his love for May through an impassioned performance of "It's Gonna Be Me (May)".
- Precision F-Strike:
Romeo: Here-fore art thou Romeo!
Juliet: Romeo! You're alive?!?
Romeo: Yes, and I've come back for my wife!
Juliet: (to the audience) Oh Shit!
- Later when Anne has Juliet not initially end up Romeo he tragically laments it.
Romeo: She was supposed to end up with me!
Anne: Yes, I know, but my problem is this, dear. You're a douche!
- Pun: Anne makes several nun-based puns about Juliet potentially joining a nunnery before mentioning that she picked up the habit from William and begging the others to help break her out of it.
- Repurposed Pop Song: Several, notably "I Want It That Way", where the "That" in question is the play.
- Show Within a Show: The only "real" part of the show are the scenes with Anne and Shakespeare, the rest is the result of their respective storytelling. As the show goes on however, that line between reality/fiction begins to blur as the show starts to affect William and Anne just as much as they affect Romeo and Juliet.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Romeo had spent his entire life validating himself through his lovers and their admiration of his good looks, yet always felt empty inside. Then he met Juliet...
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Take a guess who? Hint, it's the couple that in the middle of their big love duet, they hang from the moon, as a bevy of shooting stars rush the sky "One More Try". That said, in the end Anne and William rewrite the ending, granting Juliet and Romeo the happiness they had wanted, averting this trope.
- Theme Naming: Juliet's friends May and April.
- Virgin-Shaming: Francois, while no one makes a huge deal out of it, he feels inadequate because he still hasn't lost his V card. By the end however, he makes it clear to the audience, he and May have done the do.
- Wedding Finale: The entirety of the cast end the show celebrating Lance and Angelique's wedding to the tune of "Can't Stop the Feeling".
- What If?: The entire story is Anne Hathaway explaining her alternate view on William Shakespeare's tragedy, envisioning what would happen if Juliet didn't die alongside Romeo.
- What the Hell, Hero?: William calls out Anne for destroying his version of "Romeo and Juliet", only for Anne to shout back that after being neglected by her husband, that she came to see his play about two lovers who fight everything to be together, and felt that he had written it as a love letter for her, only for the two to kill themselves in the end.
