one4review | On 28, Sep 2024

Mama Mia! fans, Millennials/Gen z will love this!

The Olivier Award-winning musical starts its UK tour in style.

& Juliet is something of a phenomenon. Since its first appearance in London West End in 2019, it’s grown in popularity, with productions throughout the world. Now it’s on it’s first UK tour and has chosen the Sunderland Empire with its huge stage which suits this type of production to the ground.

The plot is simple. What would happen if Juliet hadn’t died at the end of Romeo and Juliet? What follows is a rewrite on the stage by Shakespeare with the help of his wife Anne as they embark on Juliet’s journey of self-discovery and empowerment.

Now the “What If” scenario isn’t anything groundbreaking in musical theatre (See Sondheim’s Into The Woods, and of course Wicked), this is all about pure entertainment and boy does it deliver.

With more twists and turns than a dozen episodes of Game Of Thrones we follow the journey of the characters transported this time to Paris for love, loss, discovery, and self-reflection. While this comes off a tiny bit clunky at times with shades of pantomime it’s all part of the process to move the story along.

However, the strength in the show is the musical numbers with strong choreography and staging. So what you get is music by Britney Spears, Katy Perry, The Backstreet Boys, Demi Lovato and even Bon Jovi interwoven with the plot.

While at heart it’s a Jukebox musical I think this gives it a slight disservice, given that Swedish musical director Max Martin wrote/produced some of these songs originally.

The cast is fantastic, special mention to the female fulcrum of the show Gerardine Sacdalan (Juliet), Lara Denning (Anne) and Sandra Marvin (Angelique).

One lovely surprise is the acting chops of Matt Cardell as Shakespeare. While people may remember him as an X-Factor winner, he’s defiantly done his time and should be known now as musical theatre star.

So if you want a good fun night out with great songs and performances that will have you dancing in the aisles then this is for you.

Touring throughout the UK until June 2025