Tucson gets a happy ending to the Bard's tragic love story in '& Juliet'

What would happen if a woman held the pen (or quill given that we’re talking about the late 16th century) and rewrote the ending to Shakespeare’s tragic story of young love.

That’s the premise of “& Juliet,” the juke box musical from David West Reed (“Schitt’$ Creek”) that Broadway In Tucson opened Wednesday night at Centennial Hall. The show runs through Sunday.

With a soundtrack of Max Martin’s biggest late 1990s-early 2010s hits — “Show Me Love,” "Overprotected,” “Teenage Dream,” “I Kissed A Girl,” “It’s My Life,” “Oops I Did It Again” and “I Want it That Way” among the nearly two dozen — “& Juliet” is a funny, high-octane reimagining of Shakespeare’s greatest work that we wish had been around when we were navigating the Bard’s thou arts and thou shalts in high school.

Here’s the story: Shakespeare’s wife Ann Hathaway (the supremely talented and funny Crystal Kellogg) has decided she is going to offer an alternate ending to her husband’s latest play, one that doesn’t end in the death of the young lovers.

Her ending lets Juliet (Fabiola Caraballo Quijada in her professional debut) skip the part where she plunges a dagger in her heart and joins her true love Romeo in the ever-after. Instead she strikes out with her non-binary bestie May (Nico Ochoa) to find herself in Paris.

Shakespeare (CJ Eldred) is not too keen but he goes along with the idea until his wife’s concept becomes the definition of a politically-correct chick flick. That’s when he adds some dramatic tension by bringing Romeo back from the dead and reinserting him into Juliet’s life. But Juliet has moved on; she’s engaged to a Parisian musician, Francois Du Bois (the wonderfully dorky Noah Marlowe) who she calls Frankie the Boy in one of Quijada’s funnier scenes.

When Frankie kisses May, he realizes he doesn’t love Juliet, who realizes she, also, does not love Frankie. Juliet’s nurse Angelique (the super funny, vocally exceptional Kathryn Allison), meanwhile, is in love with Frankie’s father Lance (Paul-Jordan Jansen, who was a vocal and physical presence on the Centennial Hall stage), with whom she had an affair a lifetime ago.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

And then there’s Romeo, who Joseph Torres introduced as a narcissistic creep — the first thing he tells Juliet after coming back from the dead: I forgive you for not killing yourself when you saw I was dead.

But after Ann Hathaway writes some humanity and kindness into his character, Juliet can’t help but realize she is still smitten. This time, though, she’s controlling her destiny; instead of jumping into I Dos after three days, she insists they go on a date.

“& Juliet” is rich with little wink-winks, including Kellogg breaking the fourth wall to remind the audience that her character is the original Ann Hathaway. Reed pretty much erased that wall dividing the audience from the stage throughout the performance.

While the entire cast was exceptional, Quijada was arguably the most exciting to watch. Tucson is only her fifth stop since joining the cast in late September — some four months after she graduated high school — but the 18-year-old Texan had the stage presence and acting chops that rivaled her more veteran colleagues.

Her powerful soprano was equally impressive, bright and versatile with pristine clarity when she hit a few impossibly high notes. Quijada showed us she is a talent that we will no doubt see on a bigger stage in due time.

Happily on Wednesday, we also could hear everything coming from the stage. That hasn’t been the case in recent performances including last month’s run of “Les Miserables” when it was nearly impossible to understand what the performers were singing or saying.

For “& Juliet” showtimes and tickets, visit broadwayintucson.com.