& Juliet premiered at the Manchester Opera House in September 2019, before transferring to the West End in November 2019.
[3] William Shakespeare is introduced by the cast at his first production of Romeo and Juliet, and welcomes the audience to his newest play ("Larger than Life").
Nevertheless, Shakespeare allows his wife to explain her idea for the play, which begins with Juliet waking up to find Romeo dead ("...Baby One More Time").
Anne writes Shakespeare into her story as well, as a carriage driver, as the trip to Paris begins ("Show Me Love").
When her parents arrive to take her to the convent, she quickly accepts Francois's proposal, before discovering Angelique and Lance's previous relationship.
Deciding that he needs to introduce a conflict or a plot twist to Anne's version of the play, Shakespeare has Francois and May meet again.
Making things even more complicated, Shakespeare intends to bring Romeo back from the dead, despite Anne's protests.
Romeo apologizes to Juliet and they decide to go on a first date, Angelique and Lance get married, and Francois and May begin a relationship.
A number of songs were cut or replaced in the show's workshops, including "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" by Adele, "22" by Taylor Swift and "I Don't Believe You" by P!nk.
The rest of the cast included Oliver Tompsett as Shakespeare, Cassidy Janson as Anne/April, Melanie La Barrie as Angelique the Nurse, David Bedella as Lance, Jordan Luke Gage as Romeo, Arun Blair-Mangat as May and Tim Mahendran as Francois.
[19] All of the cast from the Manchester run of the show transferred for the West End engagement, directed by Luke Sheppard.
It starred Lorna Courtney as Juliet, with Stark Sands as Shakespeare, Betsy Wolfe as Anne/April, Melanie La Barrie reprising her role as Angelique the Nurse, Paulo Szot as Lance, Ben Jackson Walker as Romeo, Justin David Sullivan as May and Philippe Arroyo as Francois.
[30] In October 2024, it was announced that & Juliet would return to Toronto, with performances at the Royal Alexandra Theatre scheduled to begin in December 2025.
[33] The producers on Broadway are Max Martin, Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, Jenny Petersson, Martin Dodd, Eva Price, Lukasz Gottwald, 42nd.club (Phil Kenny, Tom McGrath and Marc Hershberg), Independent Presenters Network, Jack Lane, Library Company, Shellback, Shivhans Pictures, Sing Out, Louise!, Kim Szarzynski, Taylor/Riegler, Tenenbaum/Keyes, Barry Weiss and John Gore Organization.
It stars Lorinda May Merrypor as Juliet, with Rob Mills as Shakespeare, Amy Lehpamer as Anne/April, Casey Donovan as Angelique the Nurse, Hayden Tee as Lance, Blake Appelqvist as Romeo, Jesse Dutlow as May and Yashith Fernando as Francois.
[38] In April 2023, it was announced that following the closure of the Melbourne production, the Australian cast would tour to Singapore in September 2023, for the show's Asian premiere.
The tour began in Baltimore, Maryland on 22 September 2024 and is scheduled to have engagements in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Charlotte, and San Francisco, with more cities and dates to be announced.
On August 15, 2024 it was announced that the North American tour cast would also feature Corey Mach as Shakespeare, Paul-Jordan Jansen as Lance, Teal Wicks as Anne/April, Nick Drake as May, Kathryn Allison as Angelique, Michael Canu as Romeo and Mateus Leite Cardoso as Francois.
[46][47] On 10 May 2024, it was announced that Chiara Fuhrmann would be starring as Juliet, with Willemijn Verkaik as Anne/April, Raphael Groß as Romeo and Andreas Bongard as Shakespeare.
[49] In November 2023, the show's music supervisor, orchestrator and arranger Bill Sherman revealed in an interview that a Japanese production had been planned.
[50] & Juliet's West End run, which began officially on 20 November 2019, opened to generally mixed reviews, with criticism centered on its shallow plot and lack of meaningful themes.
Some praised its high energy and its easy and fun tone, calling it a "breath of fresh air" for the general populace during the tumultuous time which it was released in.