& Juliet (UK Tour)
Review by Sam
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Luke Sheppard’s smash hit jukebox musical makes a much welcomed return to London as its stops at New Wimbledon Theatre on it's UK tour.
Exploring an alternate ending to the famous Shakespearean story, & Juliet playfully imagines the life Juliet would have gone on to lead if she’d have never killed herself for love… set to the songs of renowned music producer Max Martin. Having been a huge fan of the West End production, I can CONFIDENTly say that fans of this hillarious show will fall in love all over again with this UK tour.
David West Read's book maticulously weaves the songs of Martin into the narrative with such creative genius that the pop-infused score almost feels as though it was written for the production itself. Famous pop-motifs have been reorchestrated by Bill Sherman to have a baroque/renaissance influence underlining them, helping to seamlessly blend the score into the self-aware story. Martin's well-known music and lyrics are also injected with such precision in order to succesfully make comical moments land even STRONGER. Jennifer Weber’s choreography is as clean and defiant as ever on tour, with dazzling concert style lighting design by Howard Hudson helping to bring the anthemic soundtrack to life.
Gerardine Sacdalan leads this extremly tight ensemble with a scene stealing powerhouse performance as Juliet, defiantly cementing herself as a performer with a huge carer on the horizon. The entire cast are truly phenomenal but notable mentions have to go to Lara Denning, Jordan Broatch, Kyle Cox and Sandra Marvin, who give particularly mesmerising perfomances throughout. Sadly the biggest drawback of the production came from Jay McGuiness' performance as Shakespeare. When put up against an ensemble this strong, McGuiness sadly stood out as lacking in the same vocal prowess as his fellow cast.
The touring production of this wildly fun show has maintained all of the magic of its West End predecessor, making this another ROARing success. If you missed the chance to see the show in the West End, then make sure to catch this glorious musical on its ongoing UK tour.