Everyone can use an editor, and Shakespeare is no exception. Fortunately, he married one. <\/p>\n
Tired of being cooped up with the kids in Stratford-upon-Avon, Anne (Teal Wicks), wife of the great playwright, pops down to London to see the first performance of \u201cRomeo and Juliet.\u201d The new tragic ending that Shakespeare (Corey Mach) proudly previews to the company strikes her as completely wrongheaded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if \u2026 Juliet doesn\u2019t kill herself?\u201d she proposes. As strong-willed as her husband, she doesn\u2019t wish to argue the point. She merely wants to put her idea to the test. <\/p>\n
Behold the premise of \u201c& Juliet,\u201d the euphoric dance party of a musical that updates Shakespeare with a dose of 21st century female empowerment. The production, which opened Friday at the Ahmanson Theatre under the fizzy direction of Luke Sheppard, reimagines a new post-Romeo life for Juliet while riding a magic carpet of chart-toppers from juggernaut Swedish producer Max Martin<\/a>, who has spun gold with Katy Perry, Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys, among other pop titans. <\/p>\n Teal Wicks, left, and Rachel Webb in the North American Tour of \u201c& Juliet.\u201d<\/p>\n (Matthew Murphy)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n This good-time jukebox musical relies as much on its wit as on its catalog of pop hits. The show\u2019s music and lyrics are credited to Max Martin and friends \u2014 which sounds like a low-key cool table at the Grammy Awards. The clever book by Emmy winner David West Read<\/a> (\u201cSchitt\u2019s Creek\u201d) creates a world that can contain the show\u2019s musical riches without having to shoehorn in songs in the shameless fashion of \u201cMamma Mia!\u201d<\/p>\n Take, for instance, one of the early numbers, \u201cI Want It That Way,\u201d a pop ballad made famous by the Backstreet Boys. Anne starts singing the song when Shakespeare initially resists her idea of giving Juliet back her life. She wants him to go along with her suggested changes not because she\u2019s sure she\u2019s right but because she wants him to trust her as an equal partner. The song is redeployed in a way that has little bearing on the lyrics but somehow feels coherent with the original emotion.<\/p>\n Obviously, this is a commercial musical and not a literary masterpiece on par with Shakespeare\u2019s tragedy of ill-starred lovers. \u201c& Juliet\u201d would have trouble withstanding detailed scrutiny of its plot or probing interrogation of Juliet\u2019s character arc. But Read smartly establishes just the right party atmosphere.<\/p>\n Juliet (a vibrant Rachel Webb), having survived the tragedy once scripted for her, travels from Verona to Paris with an entourage to escape her parents, who want to send her to a nunnery for having married Romeo behind their backs. Her clique includes Ang\u00e9lique (Kathryn Allison), her nurse and confidant; May (Nick Drake), her nonbinary bestie; and April, her newbie sidekick out for fun who Anne plays in disguise. Shakespeare casts himself as the carriage driver, allowing him to tag along and keep tabs on the cockeyed direction his play is going.<\/p>\n In Paris, the crew heads directly to the Renaissance Ball, which has the look and feel of a modern-day mega-club. Entry is barred to Juliet, but not because she\u2019s ridiculously underage. Her name isn\u2019t on the exclusive guest list. So through the back door, Juliet and her traveling companions sashay as the production erupts in \u201cBlow,\u201d the Kesha song that encourages everyone to get their drink on and let loose.<\/p>\n Rachel Webb and the North American Tour Company of \u201c& Juliet.\u201d<\/p>\n (Matthew Murphy)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n The dance setting \u2014 kinetically envisioned by scenic designer Soutra Gilmour, lighting designer Howard Hudson, sound designer Gareth Owen and video and projection designer Andrzej Goulding into a Dionysian video paradise \u2014 provides the all-purpose license for Martin\u2019s music. It\u2019s the atmosphere and the energy that matter most. Paloma Young\u2019s extravagant costumes raise the level of decadent hedonism. <\/p>\n In this welcoming new context \u2014 imagine \u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical\u201d<\/a> suffused with girl power \u2014 there\u2019s never anything odd about the characters grinding and wailing like karaoke superstars. The ecstatic motion of Jennifer Weber\u2019s choreography renders dramatic logic irrelevant. <\/p>\n But love is the name of the game, and both Juliet and May fall for Fran\u00e7ois (Mateus Leite Cardoso), a young musician with a geeky sense of humor who\u2019s still figuring out his identity. May doesn\u2019t expect romance to be part of their fate. In the Spears song \u201cI\u2019m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman,\u201d they give powerful expression to an inner confusion this musical romance is determined to sort out with an appropriate partner.<\/p>\n Unlike for the original characters, a happy ending is no longer off-limits. Shakespeare and Anne wrestle to get the upper hand of a plot that seems to have a mind of its own. Shakespeare pulls a coup at the end of the first act that I won\u2019t spoil except to say that what\u2019s good for the goose proves dramaturgically viable for the gander.<\/p>\n Teal Wicks, left, Rachel Webb, Nick Drake and Kathryn Allison in the North American Tour of \u201c& Juliet.\u201d<\/p>\n (Matthew Murphy)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n This spirited competition stays in the background, but their marital happiness matters to us. Mach\u2019s Shakespeare has the cocky strut of a rapper-producer with a long list of colossal hits. Wicks gives Anne the heartfelt complexity of one of her husband\u2019s bright comic heroines. There\u2019s a quality of intelligent feeling redolent of Rosalind in \u201cAs You Like It\u201d in Wicks\u2019<\/a> affecting characterization and luscious singing. <\/p>\n But the musical belongs to Juliet, and Webb has the vocal prowess to hijack the stage whenever she\u2019s soaring in song. If Juliet\u2019s character is still a work in progress, Webb endows her with a maturity beyond her years. She makes us grateful that the Capulet daughter is getting another crack at life. When the big musical guns are brought out late in the second act (\u201cStronger,\u201d \u201cRoar\u201d), she delivers them as emancipatory anthems, fueled by hard-won epiphanies. <\/p>\n Allison\u2019s Ang\u00e9lique is just as much a standout, renewing the bawdy earthiness of Shakespeare\u2019s nurse with contemporary sass and rousing singing. If the supporting cast of men doesn\u2019t make as deep an impression, the festive comic universe is nonetheless boldly brought to life. <\/p>\n \u201c& Juliet\u201d bestows the alternative ending everyone wishes they could script for themselves \u2014 a second chance to get it right. This feel-good musical is just what the doctor ordered in these far less carefree times. <\/p>\n ‘& Juliet’<\/p>\n Where: <\/b>Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.<\/p>\n When:<\/b> 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Sept. 7<\/p>\n Tickets:<\/b> Start at $47.15<\/p>\n Contact:<\/b> (213) 628-2772 or CenterTheatreGroup.org<\/a><\/p>\n Running time:<\/b> 2 hours, 25 minutes (one intermission)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n![\"Rachel](\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/eed10f9\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/7605x5072+0+0\/resize\/320x213!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F29%2F84%2F842dee0142f8a1c15161a25a9783%2F15-juliet-north-american-tour-photo-by-matthew-murphy.jpg)
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