Melbourne Reviews

The definitions and parameters of what constitutes good theatre is of course subjective. A traditionalist might be seeking a degree of reverence for the art form, a producer will have a perspective most probably dictated by seat sales, a regular might hope their deliberately loud views will be heard by others, a newcomer might have accidently overdressed because they're not quite familiar with the protocol or indeed how long half time is and then of course, there's the critic wondering if...

& Juliet is an irreverent self-referencing tale of marital turbulence between William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway projecting into and onto a played out parallel rewrite of Romeo and Juliet. The ability to add characters and plot alternative outcomes for the famous love story resides with either partner only while holding the writers quill. All of this, a perfectly respectable theatrical device barely masking the evening's true purpose which is to lever as many well-known pop songs as possible into a two hour stage show.

Without question, & Juliet's DNA is rich in Moulin Rouge but it is of course impossible to exclude Mamma Mia, the original staged paternity test, from the genomics of any jukebox musical. If you've turned on a radio, been out clubbing or even walked the aisles of a supermarket then you'll be familiar with the songs that have been crammed into this production. Hits and anthems by Pink, Britney, Celine, Ariana, Justin, Demi, Katy, Backstreets, Jovis and even Weekends. A good pop song is a good pop song and what all these numbers have in common is the person behind them, a publicity shy Swedish melody machine named Max Martin. Still prolific in churning out hits, Martin is rapidly encroaching upon the chart success of Lennon and McCartney. For centuries we've marvelled at Shakespeare's body of work and so using the man himself, his marriage, his most famous love story and melding a narrative of possibility with this modern-day musical bard was a clever move indeed for the shows book writer David West Read who was challenged to generate a story to include Martin's back catalogue.

Director Luke Shepherd describes & Juliet as a 'new musical first and foremost' and in some respects it is given it's an original idea and book, but for many the hallmark of a new musical is new music and while these songs have been repurposed, refashioned and re appropriated for a brand-new narrative, the score is far from fresh. As with any big budget musical, an extraordinary amount of intricate and unrealised work has gone into manifesting the result. The collective energy of some supremely talented theatre craftspeople combines here to deliver a high octane and genuinely high-end production. The people behind these costumes, sound, lighting, sets and thrilling digital graphics, would be as viable in pulling together an arena spectacular as they have been in mounting this show in the West End, soon on Broadway and currently here in the world's other great theatre city – Melbourne.

So, are we talking good theatre or high spec concert?

In the first instance, it's the singing in this production that takes things up a notch. Televised talent shows often make criticism of performer being 'too musical theatre' as a reason for the them not to progress any further in the competition. The talent assembled here is genuinely astounding. This is a massively strong company with incredible performances across the board doing what one suspects many popstars could never contrive to do in a live setting let alone do it 8 times a week.

On the unfortunate side, the litany of those TV talent quests has imbued audiences with a somewhat irritating behavioural stain. How else do we account for this abundantly irritating whooping and hollering, often over the top of, a performer belting out or holding onto a note – this is what good trained singers can do, almost effortlessly and it would in fact be nice to hear the singer without the unnecessary but increasingly prevalent ghastly wall of sound from the audience long before a song is over.

This truly is a gifted company and I can’t for a second believe there is or will be better in other locations but there are of course some standouts. As Juliet, Lorinda May Merrypor is simply astonishing, a genuine find and with some certainty, it's clear this major role is the first of many ahead and arguably beyond our shores. Amy Lehpamer is wonderfully bold and strong as Anne, with a knockout voice and some lovely 'Emma Thompson' fabulousness making her hard to look away from. Rob Mills is really likeable, energetic, fun and foppy as Shakespeare, all backed up with a lovely voice. Hayden Tee is terrific as Lance, a powerhouse vocal and the best male voice on stage with Their moments across from the incomparable Casey Donovan as Angelique, the stuff of classic musical comedy. Casey Donavon is of course only seconds away from becoming a National Treasure and while not a huge role here, as in everything she does she's is not only a joy to watch but utterly divine to listen to because as much as she's giving, there's even more capacity beyond and that level of control is absolutely thrilling.

Nobody is going to be getting any smarter watching this show and musical theatre puritans are not going to love it but & Juliet is big, slick, explosive, frivolous and colourful. It's not high art, it’s maybe not even theatre but it is full of artistry and there’s even a bit of progressive gender politics to conjure a cheer. Shows like this are not cheap to stage and nor are they cheap to watch with ticket prices in this sector seemingly in sync with the RBA but you can at least see where your bucks have been banged.

And then of course there's the critic wondering if... any of it really matters anyway because this is all just harmless fun, and everyone seems to be having a lovely time being thoroughly entertained.