Review: '& Juliet' Updates a Shakespeare Classic with Hilarious Results

"& Juliet," a bold update on Shakespeare's tragic romantic classic, comes to The Providence Performing Arts Center through March 2 as part of its North American Tour.

William Shakespeare (Corey Mach) introduces his newest play, "Romeo & Juliet," to an excited audience, but his wife, Anne Hathaway (Teal Wicks), literally hates the ending. She suggests he change the tragic ending, allowing Romeo (Michael Canu) to die as originally written but letting Juliet (Rachel Simone Webb) live – after all, she's so young, and has her life ahead of her. William hates the idea, but Anne explains how this would be the better ending for his play.

Anne expounds on her idea for the revised play: Romeo had many, many other affairs with both genders, and at his funeral Juliet discovers that she may have lucked out by not being able to marry him. Juliet then grabs her bestie, May (a delightful Nick Drake), and her nurse, Angelique (the electric Kathryn Allison), and takes a trip to Paris to find her "true" love. Crashing a party for Francois (the adorable Mateus Leite Cardoso) thrown by his dad, Lance (a very funny Paul Jordan Jansen), May bumps into the lad and immediately forms a crush. Trouble is, Juliet does, too.

Since Francois' dad has given him an ultimatum (get married or join the army), he leaps at the chance to propose to Juliet, despite not wanting either life as a soldier or a husband.

The play-within-a-play features a further wrinkle in that Anne has written herself into Juliet's friend group as "April," to the dismay of William. This allows her to further explore the new journey for our protagonist.

If it sounds like a messy idea, it probably is, but West Read's script keeps it upbeat, snappy and fun, especially when William tries to change some of Anne's ideas back to his original vision (to hysterical results).

Flanked by some truly spectacular set pieces featuring lots of floating chandeliers, moving platforms, and glitzy digital effects, this production makes you want to see every minute of the colorful action. Teal Wicks is definitely the star here; her Juliet is keen to move on from Romeo, but she's grabbing all of the fun on her journey, and we are happy to join the party.

"& Juliet" opened on Broadway in 2022 after an award-winning run in the West End a year before. Breaking attendance records on this coast, it's a delightful and funny romp. With a book by "Schitt's Creek" writer David West Read and songs by a number of artists produced by songwriter Max Martin (many of his produced hits are intertwined within the story), the play makes for an evening of familiar tunes, flashy costumes, spirited choreography (Jennifer Weber), and seamless direction (Luke Sheppard).

The fun of this musical is just how seamlessly the songs fit into a plot which, in theory, sounds meh, but that shines in its execution thanks in part to this great cast. They're as earnest as the ideas laid out for them, and it's a grand modern twist on the Bard's most famous work.

"& Juliet" is running through March 2 at The Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset Street, Providence, Rhode Island, 02903. For information or tickets call 401-421-2787 or visit www.ppacri.org.