Fabiola Caraballo Quijada and Joseph Torres in the North American Tour of & Juliet Credit: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade
We all have those playlists from our past that haunt us: the guilty-pleasure songs from our youth that won’t stop repeating inside our heads, reminding us of our first dance and/or heartbreak. Blend that with the Shakespearean stories drilled into our souls since childhood, and you’ve got Broadway’s & Juliet (running now through Jan. 11 at the Dr. Phillips Center’s Walt Disney Theater) which brings all those memories together in a refreshing spectacle of humor and sentimentality.
David West Read’s Tony-nominated book is a revisionist reimagining of Romeo and Juliet where the heroine finds herself, instead of choosing to commit suicide over her short-lived boyfriend. Director Luke Sheppard serves up the story with a bit of an urban feel, adding an Olde English chaser. The real hero of the show is recent high school graduate Fabiola Caraballo Quijada as the title character; at such a young age, she embodies a strong woman who can make her own choices, even when things go horribly wrong. Revamped songs written by Max Martin — the hitmaker behind Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry and others — range from angsty rock to uplifting pop, bringing you right there with her as she struggles to become her own woman.
The buzz among the opening audience was all about Joey Fatone being in the show. The two-time second-place winner of Dancing With the Stars has proven that he’s never taken himself too seriously, and aging *NSYNC fans (myself included) were there to see him show his stuff; little did we know that he would only spend a total of about 25 minutes onstage. Many audience members left during intermission, unaware that if they had waited for the second act, they would have gotten more of the Fatone that they had come to see. In his role as “Lance,” a French man trying to get his son married, Fatone is charismatic even with a humorous cheesy French accent. The “DeBois Band” performance toward the end was the type of thing that makes the inner teenager in all of us scream with glee.
Despite sharing billing with someone famous, Crystal Kellogg steals the show as Anne, Shakespeare’s wife. As a “supporting” character, it’s a joy to see her take center stage, and Kellogg brought not only heart and strength but also playfulness to scenes that might have otherwise fallen flat. And Nico Ochoa’s gender-fluid performance as Juliet’s nonbinary friend May was intriguing, and left the audience longing for more.
Soutra Gilmour’s scenic design is joyfully over-the-top, featuring a few characters descending from the ceiling on chandeliers that made the audience cheer. The music is a reminder of the past, with the cast often performing a well-known song better than the original artists. And Paloma Young’s costumes are a mix of new and old, with corsets added to track suits, Elizabethan ruff collars, mini-backpacks and short skirts, all in bright sparkling colors. Add to all of that Howard Hudson’s flashing lights and confetti cannons, and it’s like a ’90s rave in 2026.
In the end, & Juliet empowers by showing us that life is made of choices. Do you choose who you are supposed to be or who you want to be? Either way, it’s a fun journey to get there … even if it only takes four days.
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