How pop musical ‘& Juliet’ brings the Bard to Britney Spears

by Mercury News Staff

David John Chávez

BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

The Broadway hit musical “& Juliet” began the same way many great jukebox musicals have begun — with a writer listening to lots of music in the dark after concussing himself on a kitchen cabinet at a vacation rental home.

David West Read, an Emmy award-winning writer and executive producer for the hit comedy series “Schitt’s Creek,” was given an opportunity to pitch a potential show to Max Martin, the famed Swedish producer and songwriter who’s penned huge hits for such artists as Britney Spears, Taylor Swift and Backstreet Boys.

Task at hand, Read went into a dark room and dove into a playlist of Martin’s best-known compositions.

There were a lot to choose from. Martin is credited with writing 27 No. 1 hits, more than any songwriter not named Paul McCartney (he passed John Lennon last year). One estimate has it that if you added up all of the hits Martin has written, you’d be looking at some 140 million records sold.

“There are hundreds and hundreds of songs that were on the table to choose from, and I could have made 10 musicals with the catalogue,” said Read, who credits Martin’s daughter Doris, a teenager at the time, for her enthusiasm toward the notion of changing up William Shakespeare’s tragedy. “There’s so many songs about young love and heartbreak, and that kind of brought me to the ultimate story of young love and heartbreak, which is ‘Romeo & Juliet.’ It felt like a cool idea to reinvent and repurpose Max’s music while reinventing and repurposing Shakespeare’s story.”

From left, Teal Wicks, Rachel Simone Webb, Nick Drake and Kathryn Allison star in the North American Tour of "& Juliet." (Photo by Matthew Murphy). — From left, Teal Wicks, Rachel Simone Webb, Nick Drake and Kathryn Allison star in the North American Tour of “& Juliet.” (Photo by Matthew Murphy).

When Read came out of that dark room, he had a pitch ready, which became “& Juliet.” The musical, which premiered in 2019 in Manchester, England, and debuted on Broadway in 2022, arrives at the San Diego Civic Theatre on Oct. 14 for a six-day run.

It’s a different coming-of-age story about Juliet, who in Shakespeare’s 1597 play dies by suicide immediately after her husband of less than 24 hours, Romeo, ends his life, believing Juliet has died.

In this adapted musical, playwright William Shakespeare’s thrill about his newest work is greeted with disdain by his wife Anne Hathaway, who is visiting London from their hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon to witness the premiere. Anne asks a critical question — what if the death of Romeo isn’t the end for this young woman of 13, but the beginning of new adventures? Juliet, now free to see what awaits her in the great big world, sets out to explore the world, alongside friends who include May, her non-binary bestie.

The show fills the air with many of Martin’s biggest pop hits, a parade of millennial music magic that hearkens back to the early 2000s, when choosing between ‘N Sync and the Backstreet Boys was a blood sport. Some of the pop songs featured in the musical are “Since U Been Gone,” “Roar,” “Domino,” “Teenage Dream,” “I Want it That Way,” “It’s Gotta Be Me” and “I Kissed a Girl.”

Teal Wicks and Rachel Simone Webb in the North American Tour of "& Juliet." (Photo by Matthew Murphy) — Teal Wicks and Rachel Simone Webb in the North American Tour of “& Juliet.” (Photo by Matthew Murphy)

But for someone like Sacramento native Teal Wicks (Anne Hathaway), whose past credits include a run as Elphaba in “Wicked,” those battles were waged by others. Pop music wasn’t Wicks’ vibe, so much so that the material made her pause a bit before taking on the role of Shakespeare’s wife in the current national tour.

Those sentiments have taken a massive 360 turn.

“That music has absolutely grown on me,” said Wicks, who became obsessed as a teenager with Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film version of “Romeo and Juliet” starring Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio. “These songs and artists are really woven into the fabric of our lives, and it’s hard not to bob your head and start doing a little dance while humming the songs when they come on.”

Wicks wasn’t the only one who wasn’t fully feeling the love for that era’s pop music soundtrack. Read admits that he had one question when asked to pitch a potential musical to Max Martin using the songwriter’s biggest hits — who is Max Martin?

Corey Mach performs with the North American Tour Company of "& Juliet." (Photo by Matthew Murphy) — Corey Mach performs with the North American Tour Company of “& Juliet.” (Photo by Matthew Murphy)

“I obviously have tremendous respect for Max Martin, and way more respect now than when we started,” Read said. “You can’t live on this planet or walk through an airport or shopping mall without hearing his songs, so I very quickly realized how much of his music I knew.”

The most entertaining aspects of the show come from how seamless those hits inform a new retelling of a 400-plus year-old-story. For her part, and in no small part thanks to Read’s work, Wicks gets a joyous opportunity to bring a fresh perspective to the role Shakespeare’s wife, a historical figure who remains largely shrouded in mystery.

“David just crafted a really lovely woman on the page and a very fun, smart and witty character that is such a beautiful pair with the Shakespeare character,” Wicks said. “I just kind of ran with it and really filled in the blanks with my own self.”

Playing Anne Hathaway on tour, where the bulk of the country will experience the musical for the first time, is a golden opportunity for Wicks to continue putting her own spin on the role.

“The women who have played Anne before were very different and have carved out their own versions of Anne, which is sort of a stepping stone for me to bring her to life through myself,” Wicks said. “That has been very, very fun.”

The fun of “& Juliet” parallels the joy of “Schitt’s Creek,” one of Read’s signature projects. Are there parallels between the musical and the popular television show?

“In both, there’s a portrayal of the world as we would like it to be, not necessarily as it is,” Read said. “Let’s present a space where people are celebrated for their differences and brought together. We are a very inclusive show, both on stage and in the audience — in these scary and divisive times, it just feels more important than ever to have shows like this that are about joy and about life.”