Production announced Friday that Lorna Courtney, Paulo Szot, Betsy Wolfe and Stark Sands will headline the North American premiere of Max Martin jukebox singing “& Juliet.”
Now showing in London’s West End, & Juliet is a retelling of William Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet. Featuring a framing device in which Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway comment on the original play, the musical explores a scenario in which Juliet does not die at the end of the story, and instead takes a road trip to Paris in search of self-discovery. The musical features book by David West Reed, best known for his work on the Canadian comedy series “Sheets Creek,” and the music of Grammy Award-winning songwriter Max Martin, including songs like “I Want It That Way” and “Since U Have Gone.” and ‘A Teenager’s Dream’. It also featured an original song, “One More Try”, co-starred with Jessie J.
Courtney will play Juliet in the North American production of “& Juliet.” A recent graduate of the University of Michigan, Kourtney previously appeared on Broadway in “Dear Evan Hansen” and the 2020 revival of West Side Story. This will be her first professional lead role.
Paulo Szot will play Lance, a wealthy man whom Juliette meets while in Paris. Professional opera singer Szot made his Broadway debut in 2008 as Emile De Becque in the “South Pacific” revival, and won Tony for his performance. He gave opera performances at the Metropolitan Opera, the Scala di Milano, the Paris Opera, and others.
Wolf will play Anne Hathaway. A veteran Broadway performer, Wolf has appeared in musicals such as “Falsettos”, “Waitress” and “Bullets Over Broadway”.
Sands will portray William Shakespeare. Sands has been nominated twice for a Tony for his roles in “Journey’s End” and “Kinky Boots”. He also starred in the Broadway productions “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “American Idiot”.
In addition to Courtney, Szout, Wolf & Sands, “& Juliet” will star as nurse Melanie La Barrie, reprising her role from the original UK production. Also co-producing will be Justin David Sullivan as May, Ben Jackson Walker as Romeo and Philip Arroyo as Francois. The group includes Brandon Antonio, Nico de Jesus, Nicholas Edwards, Katie Geraghty, Virgil Judson, Bobby Horner, Jomin Hwang, Michael Evan Carrier, Alaina VT Maderal, Daniel J. Maldonado, Joe Mueller, Brittany Nicholas, Veronica Utem, Jasmine Raphael, Matt Raffy, and Laura Ternan Whipponi.
The North American production of “& Juliet” will feature a limited eight-week run at the Princess in Wales Theater in Toronto, as a test of the Broadway transition. The play is directed by Luke Shepard, with choreography by Jennifer Weber, designing the Gilmore sutras, costumes by Paloma Young, lighting design by Howard Hudson, sound design by Gareth Owen, music supervision and coordination by Bill Sherman, hair design by J. Jared Janas. Production is scheduled to run from June 22 to August 14.
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