What if.
It’s the question that Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway (played by Amy Lehpamer) asks in the opening scene of ‘& Juliet’.
What if Juliet doesn’t die?
What if the timeline branches and instead of sending a happy dagger through her heart, she lives to become a teenager in a feel-good comedy where she runs away from her family with her best friends on a road trip journey of self discovery to the most romantic city in the world?
And what if the whole thing was soundtracked by the biggest hits from the '90s and '00s?
It’s the standard formula for some of my favourite childhood rom-coms and has all the potential to flop at the box office when in the wrong hands. But in the hands of David West Read, one of the writers on 'Schitt’s Creek', this jukebox musical is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Electrifyingly fun, this production is packed with punky period-inspired outfits and hard-hitting choreography mixed in with a sweet-as-pie coming-of-age story, a spunky leading lady and a handful of plot twists that you won’t see coming. No, really.
Image © Daniel Boud
The music has been expertly curated with just the right amount of nostalgia to be clever. Plucked from lauded songwriter and producer Max Martin’s back catalogue, everyone from Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry has been embedded into this tale.
Lyrics are transformed into conversation with each interpretation mirroring the plot rather than being a carbon copy of the original – it’s all very refreshing.
What’s even more impressive is how naturally the songs fit together. So much so, that I begin to wonder if the lyrics themselves wrote the story or if David West Read just secretly has a Masters in pop music trivia.
The cast, too, is exceptional. Executing their lines with charisma and vulnerability, their comedic timing is so on point it would make the Bard himself proud.
Image © Daniel Boud
Lehpamer captivates as Anne who longs for love amid a tragedy, while Casey Donovan’s take on Nurse Angélique is pure magic, turning what was an almost non-existent character into a beloved mother figure filled with light, love and (as P!nk would say) a “f...ing perfect” load of laughs.
Ultimately though, this is Juliet’s spotlight, and in it she shines radiantly.
Played by the infectiously lovable Lorinda May Merrypor, we meet her three songs in, belting out Britney in an astounding solo performance before continuing to excel and exceed with every pop royalty that gets thrown her way.
From Katy Perry to Jessie J, Kelly Clarkson to Demi Lovato, Merrypor crosses octaves and genres effortlessly – all while delivering an innocent and bubbly energy that propels you to cheer her on all the way to her very happy ending.
