What would Juliet’s story look like if she hadn’t died with Romeo? The jukebox musical “& Juliet” — which is coming to the Academy of Music March 25-April 6 courtesy of Ensemble Arts Philly and The Shubert Organization — attempts to answer that question while providing a playful, radical twist on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
“& Juliet” tackles myriad topics with a lighthearted tone and featuring music from pop songwriter Max Martin, who wrote hits such as Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time,” Backstreet Boys’ “Larger Than Life,” Adam Lambert’s “Whataya Want From Me” and Celine Dion’s “That’s the Way It Is” — all of which are performed in the show. “& Juliet” is meant to get audiences up and dancing. A notable plotline follows a queer romance between May and Francois, Juliet’s best friend and fiance, respectively.
Nick Drake, who plays May in the tour production, spoke about the ways “& Juliet” aligns with and deviates from the source material, particularly along queer lines.
“With Shakespeare, they used to dress up as women all the time,” Drake said. “They used to not have women play these roles in general, and I feel like May is totally a character that Shakespeare would write and is totally in the universe of it. We take really good care of this character in the time period that we are in and make sure that they feel identified with who they are and how they are and what they bring to the table because back then it was looked at as funny.”
Mateus Leite Cardoso, who plays François, echoed Drake’s sentiments.
“I feel like François is interesting because, in Shakespeare, there are instances where characters who theoretically are straight fall in love with another character that may be dressed as something other than their gender assigned at birth,” Cardoso said. “Our show isn’t too different than that; it’s just slightly adjusted for the time period we’re in now where we have the pleasure of acknowledging nonbinary people.”
Drake also spoke about the heavy subject matter in the story, given in the original Shakespeare play, both titular characters die by suicide.
“I think what’s really lovely about the choreo and about that opening number when she’s deciding to go through it is that she’s surrounded by people, and she’s surrounded by people who take the dagger,” Drake said. “You can tell that there’s a support system around her, and what is lovely about it is that the players are used to flow the story together and keep things intertwined. And in that moment, it’s more like the players are all the thoughts in her mind.”
Rachel Simone Webb, a Black woman, portrays Juliet in the tour production. Drake noted a scene in the show where Judith — an ensemble character played by Camille Brooks, another Black woman and the understudy for Juliet — takes Juliet’s dagger away. Drake said this feels like Juliet’s younger self saying, “You must keep going to heal your inner self and to live a life of fulfillment.”
“I’m very grateful that you see her decide,” Drake said. “She looks at this dagger, and then someone takes it away from her, and it’s another Black girl that takes it away from her. And that’s really, really special and really, really important.”
Drake and Cardoso also spoke about performing in the current climate, which struck home for them as they had performances on Election Day and the next day when the election results were announced.
“It’s a scary four years,” Drake said. “It’s really hard to be a queer person on tour when you don’t have your safe spot and you don’t have your bubble of safety. So, what I’m very happy about is that this cast is full of queer people, and we all look out for each other. And I’m really happy that this brings out people who want to see queer love and queer joy.”
Cardoso emphasized the importance of joy as a takeaway after receiving the election results.
“I hope [audiences] walk away with a sense that joy is a form of rebellion,” Cardoso said. “Especially on Election Day and when we found out those results, doing our love song felt so rebellious because queer joy is revolution.”
Drake shared that even in red states, they’ve experienced audiences who are enthusiastic about the show.
“It’s bringing out people who resonate with it, but it’s also showing people that we’re just regular human beings trying to exist in the same way that you as a human being can exist every single day,” Drake said. “And I think that’s really, really important. You know, you may not fully understand it, but you respect the person that is performing, and you respect who I am as a person.”
Cardoso said audiences have also identified with Francois’ journey, especially concerning the character’s relationship with his father.
“I’ve had many teenagers come up to me and say their relationship with their father is similar to the one I have in the show, but maybe not as much of a happy ending and it really is touching for them,” Cardoso said. “That feels really special and especially when they get to meet PJ [Paul-Jordan Jansen] who plays Francois’ dad, you can tell they have an emotional reaction from that kind of support on stage.”
Ensemble Arts and The Shubert Organization present “& Juliet” March 25-April 6 at the Academy of Music, 240 S Broad St. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit ensembleartsphilly.org.