& Juliet

Shaftesbury Theatre, London, stalls E10

When I started doing theatre trips to London, 30 years ago, I always rushed to Leicester Square, to the half price ticket booth, to see the offers and get some tickets. Nowadays, getting decent bargain tickets is a bit easier. TodayTix had online rush tickets, but for & Juliet I missed out on those. So I bought my ticket with TKTS online, TKTS is the old half price ticket booth from days gone past, but they now also have online tickets. It isn't really half price anymore, I got 40% off my stalls ticket, but it still was a good offer.

So seeing & Juliet was a last minute decision, and I really didn't know what to expect from this show. Beforehand I had mixed feeling whether or not I was going to like it. I really prefer original musicals instead a jukebox musicals, where they use hits of artists in the show. The songs of & Juliet are all by Max Martin. If you are going to make a jukebox musical, do it like they made & Juliet, it is perfect!

It is original, it is fun, it is modern, it is like like a glass of champagne bubbling away! It starts with introducing Shakespeare who just wrote Romeo & Juliet, and his wife Anne Hathaway, just didn't like the ending, so... she decides to change it! So what if Juliet didn't die? What would she do? Would she be able to follow her own path? Does she gets the chance to love again? Has she got enough 'girl power'? So we get a whole lot of unexpected twists and turns, filled with great songs, and a lot of laughs.

The whole cast was just unbelievable good! I didn't get to see Miriam-Teak Lee as Juliet, so I have to go back to see her in that role. There are a whole lot of performers I loved and I'll keep my eyes out for their future performances, like Cassidy Janson, who played Anne, and Alex Thomas-Smits, who played May. Oliver Tompsett, who played Shakespeare, has also left a lasting impression.

I know when a show is really, like really, really good, when I want to book new tickets during the interval. And for this one, I really can't wait to see this again! I also want to bring along family and friends to see it, just to also give them that buzzing, happy feeling when you've seen this show. This is just one of those feel good shows. I get a smile on my face just thinking about it.

I also added the original cast recording to my spotify list, it is so good.

This is a 5 star show and I'm sure I' going to watch it again!