What if, Juliet woke up and instead of committing suicide, decided to leave Verona and escape her controlling parents and the feuding families? What if she did it to Max Martin tunes? That’s the premise of a complicated, messy musical “& Juliet”; the national tour is currently at the Ahmanson before it moves on to the Segerstrom in Costa Mesa.

If you’re wondering who Max Martin is, while you may not know his name, you’ve heard his tunes. The 54-year-old Max Martin (born Karl Martin Sandberg) is a Swedish record producer and songwriter who had written hit singles for Britney Spears (“..Baby One More Time”), The Backstreet Boys  (“I Want It That Way”) and Celine Dion (“That’s The Way It Is”). Martin has 27 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles. He has surpassed John Lennon as the second-most number-one singles on the chart to be number-two. Paul MacCartney, 83,  holds the top spot with 32.

Hit songs from the Backstreet Boys, Céline Dion, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, *NSYNC, Katy Perry, Britney Spears and  Justin Timberlake are included in this 2019 jukebox musical.

David West Read’s book has Shakespeare at this first production of “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” (“Larger than Life”) when his wife, Anne Hathaway (Teal Wicks), suggests and then insists that he change the ending (“I Want It That Way). Anne’s idea takes Juliet (Rachel Webb) out of the tombs after discovering her young husband dead (“…Baby One More Time”) and at Romeo’s funeral where she learns she wasn’t first first love. Romeo had many others of both sexes (“Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely”).  A disillusioned Juliet decides to flee Verona to be away from her parents (Naima Alakham and Usman Ali Mughal) who want to send her to a nunnery. With her nurse, Angelique ( Kathryn Allison), Juliet’s non-binary friend May  (Nick Drake) and Anne, who has written herself into the play as April, Juliet decides to try to make a new life in Paris (“Domino” and “Show Me the Love”). Yes, that’s the name of her dead fiancé who was killed by Romeo in a duel at Juliet’s tomb whose funeral she isn’t seen attending.

In Paris, Juliet, April, May and Angelique crash a party (“Blow”) given for François (Mateus Leite Cardoso) by his father Lance (Paul-Jordan Jansen). François must either marry or join the army. Juliet and François meet and bond, dancing together (“Confident”).  Juliet and Francois will end up engaged and ready to quickly marry, but there are complications. Angelique and Lance have a history and hook up. May and Francois seem to have a connection that is more romantic than the pragmatic one between Juliet and François. Then, Romeo (Michael Canu) suddenly arrives in Paris, meaning to reclaim his wife (“It’s My Life”).

That’s the end of the first act. The second act will unravel these complications as well as expose the conflict between Anne Hathaway and her husband. This is a romantic comedy musical so there will be more music and a happy ending of sorts. In the Shakespearean tradition there will be puns and asides. Some are groan-worthy as opposed to witty.

This, of course, isn’t the first time the Ahmanson has hosted an production of a revision of “Romeo and Juliet.” Only last year, the Ahmanson hosted a Montreal-based artist collective that performed a pole-dancing, circus acrobatic version of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” called “Duel Reality.”

And this isn’t even the first jukebox musical where Romeo and Juliet live and have a happy ending. Think of the animated 2011 animated romantic comedy “Gnomeo & Juliet” which featured the voices of James McAvoy (Gnomeo) and Emily Blunt (Juliet) as garden gnomes in Stratford-upon-Avon belonging to feuding neighbors, Miss Montague and Mr. Capulet. The garden gnomes and other lawn ornaments come to life when humans are not around. The film also includes William Shakespeare and featured songs of Elton John (as well as original songs written specifically for the film by Chris Bacon and J. Newton Howard and a Sherman Brothers Disneyland classic, “The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room”), including a duet by John and Lady Gaga (“Hello, Hello”). In comparison, “Gnomeo and Juliet” is funnier and more cohesive.

The jukebox musical “Return to the Forbidden Planet” which won the Oliver Award for Best New Musical integrated Shakespeare’s lines better than “& Juliet” although its music was from a variety of artists and covered only the 1950s and 1960s.

“& Juliet” received nine Olivier nominations and won three awards in 2020: Best Actress in a Musical (Miriam-Teak Lee for Juliet), Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical (David Bedella for Lance, the father of François) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Cassidy Janson as Anne Hathaway/April). Best New Musical was “Dear Evan Hansen.” The musical had nine nominations at the Tony Awards in 2023, but took home none. Best Musical of that year was “Kimberly Akimbo.”

While the voices of all the cast members for this national are wonderful and give one pause in comparison to most of the original artists, David West Read’s book attempts to cover too many issues and, perhaps, too many songs. There’s the marriage of Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway and the perceived slight in Will’s will, the issue of gender-bending in plays and women’s roles, then there’s being non-binary and attempting to please one’s parents. Canadian Read was a writer and executive producer For “Schitt’s Creek” (2015-2020), winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series as an Executive Director.

In many ways, the choreography Jennifer Weber and the direction by Luke Sheppard seem to mimic what fans have come to expect at large pop concerts but a bit tamer to keep the limitations of a national tour in mind. While I found the book a bit muddled, it was good to hear Broadway caliber voices interpreting pop music hits.

While I could not find a video of the national tour star Rachel Webb singing “Oops!…I Did It Again,” I did find the original Broadway cast recording which features Lorna Courtney as Juliet singing that song and after comparing it to Britney Spears’ Official video, I gained a new appreciation for the tune.  You can find my comparison video on my YouTube channel (but due to copyright it is blocked in certain territories). 

While Britney Spears’ singing can’t compete with these big Broadway-caliber voices, I do think that it is hard to improve upon Kelly Clarkson. Rachel Webb, who portrays Juliet on this national tour, performed Clarkson’s hit, “Since U Been Gone,” live as part of a promotional appearance during this tour. I madea comparison video, but it also is partially blocked due to copyright issues.

If you love Shakespeare, “& Juliet” might not be the right entertainment for you, but if you love Max Martin and his songs, “& Juliet” is a lovely opportunity to dress up in your corset or poet shirt mixed with some modern clothing and take in these songs sung by Broadway vocal talents.

“& Juliet” continues at the Ahmanson until 7 September 2025. Then it move on to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa where it opens on 9 September 2025 and runs until 21 September 2025 at Segerstrom Hall.

For more information about “& Juliet” at the Ahmanson, visit the Center Theatre Group website.

For more information about the Costa Mesa performances, visit the Segerstrom Center for the Arts website.

Performer(s)	Song	Original Artist
Act 1
Shakespeare and Company	“Larger than Life“	Backstreet Boys
Anne, Shakespeare and Company	“I Want It That Way“
Juliet	“…Baby One More Time“	Britney Spears
Rosaline, Anne, Shakespeare, Lord Capulet, Lady Capulet, Juliet and Company	“Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely“	Backstreet Boys
Juliet, Anne, Angelique and May	“Domino“	Jessie J
Juliet, Anne, Angelique, May and Company	“Show Me Love“	Robyn
	“Blow“	Ke$ha
May and Juliet	“I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman“	Britney Spears
Francois and Juliet	“Overprotected“
Juliet, Francois, Angelique and Company	“Confident“	Demi Lovato
Angelique and Lance	“Teenage Dream” / “Break Free“	Katy Perry / Ariana Grandefeat. Zedd
Juliet and Angelique	“Oops!…I Did It Again“	Britney Spears
May, Francois and Company	“I Kissed a Girl“	Katy Perry
Romeo, Shakespeare, Juliet, Anne and Company	“It’s My Life“	Bon Jovi
Act 2
Romeo	“Love Me like You Do“	Ellie Goulding
Juliet and Female Ensemble	“Since U Been Gone“	Kelly Clarkson
May and Francois	“Whataya Want from Me“	Adam Lambert
Juliet, Romeo and Company	“One More Try”	Original song
	“Problem” / “Can’t Feel My Face“	Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea / The Weeknd
Anne and Juliet	“That’s the Way It Is“	Céline Dion
Shakespeare, Romeo, May, Francois, Lance and Company	“Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)“	Backstreet Boys
Francois, Shakespeare, Romeo and May	“As Long as You Love Me“
Francois and May	“It’s Gonna Be Me“	*NSYNC
Juliet	“Stronger“	Britney Spears
Lance, Francois and May	“Shape of My Heart“	Backstreet Boys
Angelique and Company	“Fuckin’ Perfect“	P!nk
Juliet and Company	“Roar“	Katy Perry
Shakespeare, Anne, Juliet, Romeo and Company	“I Want It That Way” (Reprise)	Backstreet Boys
Shakespeare, Anne and Company	“Can’t Stop the Feeling!“	Justin Timberlake