Review: & JULIET at Des Moines Performing Arts

At least one jukebox musical opens on Broadway each season. Sometimes they take an artist's music and use it to tell their story, such as "Jersey Boys," "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical," or "MJ." Other times, they use the music of an artist or group to tell a story where the music is the focus, such as "Mamma Mia" or "Moulin Rouge." This week, another jukebox musical is opening at Des Moines Performing Arts.  On Tuesday, "& Juliet" opened, and the show is a new type of Jukebox musical.  One where the story comes first, and the music is an enhancement of the story.

Going into the evening, I was expecting a story about what would happen if Juliet didn't die at the end of "Romeo and Juliet," but I ended up with so much more. The show starts on the opening night of the original "Romeo and Juliet" production. Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway, shows up for the opening night performance.  When she hears the show's ending, she suggests that Juliet shouldn't kill herself, and Shakespeare agrees to hear her ideas, and that's just the first scene.  As we hear these ideas, we see what may have happened if Juliet hadn't died.

I was shocked as I walked into the theatre to see the walls decorated from the front of the house to the back of the space. I was immediately pulled into the show.  As you look at the stage, you see a sign that says & Juliet, " a jukebox, and some other letters around the stage. As the show continues, I was amazed at how well Soutra Gilmour's set, Paloma Young's costumes, Howard Hudson's lights, and Andrzej Goulding's video and projections work so well together to tell the story and deliver several surprises throughout the performance. Each time the curtain came down through the show, you knew something exciting was about to get set up and happen.

Part of the fun with this show is the amazing ensemble.  They work hard to sell the story that is being told, from getting the crowd excited for the opening of "Romeo and Juliet" which they are members of the cast, but the way the wink at times to the fact that this is a jukebox musical, and saying yes we are singing "that song." They also do an amazing job with the intense choreography by Jennifer Weber.

We can't discuss Juliet without discussing the show's two leading ladies.  The first being our title character, Juliet, played by Rachel Simone Webb. She brings a youthfulness to the character, without the character feeling out of place with the rest of the cast. When the story starts to make her do the same rushed wedding, but for new reasons, she makes it feel natural that the character is going to 'break the quill' and be the author of her own story.

We also have Teal Wicks making a return to Des Moines after being seen several seasons ago in "Jekyll and Hyde" in the role of Anne Hathaway. Not the actress, but Shakespeare's wife, a joke made several times. Her character takes us from humorous to heart-wrenching as we see a wife happy to be at opening night to a wife struggling with an absent husband. Her performance is thrilling to watch.

I also want to highlight a few of the men in the show who were filling in as understudies on the night I attended.  The first was Christopher Robert Hanford as Shakespeare, who brought a fun and charming take to the character.  The other understudy was Josh Jordan as Romeo, whom I was mixed on at the end of Act One.  His character has a grand entrance, but the energy and bravado for the moments he was on stage at the end of Act 1 were missing. When Act 2 started, he seemed to find what was missing and gave a fantastic performance as Romeo.

The show featured some additional amazing performances. Nick Drake finds a balance of humor and heart as May. Kathryn Allison returns to the Civic Center stage after last being seen in the tour of Company as Juliet's nurse, Angelique. As before, she had the audience rolling in their seats with laughter, but we get to see a completely different side of her at the end of Act 2. 

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