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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGatorfan252525<\/a>, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n Shakespeare gave Juliet one ending. Broadway gave her a whole new one, set to a soundtrack of Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry bangers.<\/p>\n For the past four years, & Juliet has been turning the most famous tragedy of all time into a full-blown pop party at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. <\/p>\n But the party\u2019s almost over. The musical will play its final Broadway performance on Sunday, January 3, 2027.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not going quietly. <\/p>\n Starting November 3, Everybody Hates Chris and Martin star Tichina Arnold, a Queens native, makes her long-awaited Broadway debut in the show, sticking around all the way through closing night.<\/p>\n We have all of the details on the new cast members, plus some pretty convincing reasons why you need to check this out before it leaves!<\/p>\n & Juliet\u2019s final bow, by the numbers<\/p>\n When the curtain comes down on January 3, & Juliet will have played 1,723 regular performances and 20 previews, earning a spot among the 50 longest-running musicals in Broadway history.<\/p>\n The show has also grossed more than $175 million and welcomed over 1.5 million fans, and it was the first new musical of its season to recoup its investment. <\/p>\n It\u2019s quickly become one of NYC\u2019s most in-demand productions, and will surely be one of the city\u2019s most missed too.<\/p>\n Star power until the very end<\/p>\n Tichina Arnold isn\u2019t the only big name in the building. Here\u2019s who\u2019s on stage for the final stretch:<\/p>\n Tichina Arnold as Ang\u00e9lique, Juliet\u2019s nurse, from November 3 through closing night<\/p>\n Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart returning as Lance, also starting November 3<\/p>\n Aly Michalka, of Aly & AJ and Easy A fame, making her Broadway debut as Anne from November 3<\/p>\n Spencer Sutherland as Romeo, and Dance Moms star Kenzie Ziegler as Charmion<\/p>\n NSYNC fans, act fast: Joey Fatone plays his final performance as Lance on November 1. Bye bye bye, Joey.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s it actually about?<\/p>\n You know how Romeo and Juliet ends: badly. Two teens fall in love, and things go tragically wrong.<\/p>\n & Juliet asks a simple question: what if Juliet didn\u2019t die?<\/p>\n The show opens with William Shakespeare himself, about to debut his newest play, Romeo and Juliet. But his real-life wife Anne Hathaway (no, not that one) wife has notes. <\/p>\n She thinks Juliet deserves way more than a tragic ending, so she grabs the pen and starts rewriting the story herself.<\/p>\n In her version, Juliet ditches the original ending and sets off on a brand-new adventure with her best friends and her nurse, determined to figure out who she is and live life on her own terms. Meanwhile, Shakespeare keeps trying to steer the story back his way, and the two of them battle it out over who gets to write the ending.<\/p>\n It\u2019s part love story, part comedy, part girl-power anthem, with a whole lot of glitter. And it\u2019s packed with pop hits that fit the story surprisingly well.<\/p>\n The show\u2019s book was written by David West Read, the Emmy-winning writer behind Schitt\u2019s Creek, so expect plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. <\/p>\n It was also nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical.<\/p>\n That playlist, though<\/p>\n The real star might be the soundtrack. Every song comes from Swedish hitmaker Max Martin, the man behind some of the biggest pop songs of the last 30 years.<\/p>\n Get ready to scream-sing along to hits like \u201cSince U Been Gone,\u201d \u201cRoar,\u201d \u201cI Want It That Way\u201d and \u201cConfident\u201d, plus more from the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Kelly Clarkson and Bon Jovi. <\/p>\n It\u2019s basically a 2000s throwback playlist with a Shakespeare costume on.<\/p>\n The Broadway theater hiding underground<\/p>\n The theater itself has a pretty wild story too. <\/p>\n Walk up to the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on West 43rd Street and you\u2019ll see a stately red-brick facade from 1918, when actor-producer Henry Miller built a theater that became the first on Broadway with air conditioning.<\/p>\n Over the decades, it went through some interesting phases, including stints as a film house, an adult movie theater and a discotheque, before returning to live theater.<\/p>\n Then things got really creative. When the Bank of America Tower went up next door in the 2000s, preservationists ruled that the historic facade had to stay, and that the new theater couldn\u2019t be taller than it. <\/p>\n The solution? Sink the entire theater into the ground behind the old facade. Crews dug about 70 feet below street level, the deepest excavation in Midtown at the time.<\/p>\n So next time you\u2019re heading to your seat, just know you\u2019re watching Juliet\u2019s glow-up from deep under 43rd Street.<\/p>\n How to see & Juliet before it closes<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss out! Follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, and now on WhatsApp<\/a>, too!<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t