Review of the Broadway tour of &Juliet in Baltimore.

I would say that I’m a pretty certified theatre geek. Every year, as I work in the industry (although I live somewhere else on the East Coast), I see about 10-15 shows in New York City while I’m up for work. It has been a true passion of mine throughout the years, although I’m increasingly beginning to enjoy seeing more shows locally.

That said, when &Juliet came out on Broadway originally, I had wanted to see it. I didn’t because of the high ticket prices, and it never appeared on my TDF subscription I had for NYC shows. So I didn’t see it, and then I promised I would see it with my sister when it was the right time.

Well September 2024 rolls around, and I’m unexpectedly still home. I was expecting to be in India at this point, but when I noticed that the show was coming to the Hippodrome to kick off its North America tour, I knew I wanted to get out of the house and see it.

I roped my sister onto it, and we snagged its third ever performance at the Hippodrome in Baltimore for only $49 a ticket. We had Row K tickets in seats 15 and 17 in the orchestra, which are marked partial view, but they weren’t that bad at all.

It was partial view because the subtitle screen cuts off a little portion of the stage, but we both thought we got a major deal considering everything happens center stage. I had done the same thing (bought partial view) when I saw Parade on Broadway, and that was also an incredible deal.

I’m rambling, so let’s get into my review of the show!

Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway, decides she wants to rewrite the story of his most famous play so that Juliet lives.

I’m going to keep this review mainly spoiler free, as some of the moments in those show had the people around us screaming and dying in laughter. What you need to know is that this is a story within a story.

Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway, decides she doesn’t want Juliet to have a tragic ending and learn to be happy. At the very beginning of the show, she rewrites it so as Juliet finds Romeo dead, she decides that she isn’t going to kill herself for him. She wants to find out what life has in store for her.

And so the rest of the show is just that. Anne Hathaway does turn herself into a self-insert character, becoming one of Juliet’s best friends along with a new character named May (who is nonbinary—an important thread throughout the show). There’s love afoot in the air, with plenty of drama and laughs to go around.

I typically do not like jukebox shows, which are musicals that use lyrics from other pop songs. For example, I did not care for Moulin Rouge at all. But the humor in this show was a lot more accessible, and there were a ton of moments where everyone around us was dying in laughter.

I’d also say that there were quite a few moments where I simply thought the execution was so good. Sometimes the tour set design isn’t up to what the Broadway show has, but I found this show to be such a good example of a miniset done right. It’s not as grand as the Broadway version, but it’s still pretty darn good.

Also: I absolutely adored the touring cast. I realized as soon as Lance stepped on stage that it was Paul-Jordan Jansen, who I had seen last year in Josh Groban’s version of Sweeney Todd. I also recognized Shakespeare from when I saw Merrily We Roll Along, and the Nurse was from Company and I’d seen her three times now.

Did I say I watch a lot of theater? This proves it right there if I’d already seen a good chunk of the cast.

That’s to say this is such a stacked touring cast—the actor who played Hathaway was also in several Broadway shows. The younger actors playing May, Juliet, Francois, and Romeo were also very much standouts, making it a delight to see all of this come into harmony. This was a very good company and casting for the show.

Overall Thoughts

I say if you have the finances and are interested in the show, go see it! My sister and I both enjoyed it a lot—we came into it with some bad moods, but walked out lighthearted as we spent a lot of it laughing. We were also covered in paper confetti as there’s a lot of it throughout the end of the show.

This is such a talented cast and it’s a good story. There are some jokes that might not make this show entirely appropriate for younger girls under the age of ten, but I thought this was such good representation too. Most of the main characters are Black or people of color, and I thought that was such good casting as well!

All in all, this is such a fun night out. I’d honestly see it again if I could score another cheap deal. I’m glad I eventually got to see the show, as I waited two years for the opportunity. It was indeed worth it.

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