& Juliet - Opera House MCR / Shaftesbury / U.K.Tour

Just seen they’re performing on Britain’s Got Talent on Thursday.

That inane clapping along makes me want to murder the entire audience. Bunch of clapping seals.

I was there tonight! Great to have this show back.

First up, the changes. There is no revolve or under-stage lift. In Larger Than Life Shakespeare stands behind the Romeo sign which lifts up to reveal him. The revolve is missed, in my opinion, particularly in Show Me Love which feels a bit stilted and low energy with ensemble members just bringing the scenery on, standing by it, then taking it off. The carriage (which is no longer a horse drawn camper van and more of one of those bike sofas that wait outside London theatres blaring music) spins on an axis to create the 'travelling'. I'm sure casual viewers won't notice any difference of course. The 'lowered' lift from the flies (forgive my lack of correct theatre terminology!) in It's My Life is thankfully still there, and Juliet still rises on the chandelier, and the moon (now a crescent moon with perches rather than a bench) in One More Try still comes down too - although oddly they're on it for about 10 seconds before it comes down again which made me question the point of shipping it round the country!

There have been a few script changes to clarify lines - e.g. Romeo's "we /were/ in love?" is now something like "are we not in love anymore?". Several others that have left my brain. There have been a few inclusive tweaks - Romeo now says "it's true I have been romantic with other people before" rather than "other girls" and I believe they now use "they" to refer to May rather than exclusively using "May".

Juliet now has a single mother - the part of Lord Capulet is non existent, as it were on a cut show in London. (Played by Rachel Moran returning temporarily from the London cast, presumably to cover the indisposition of Jade Johnson).

The scene where Lance interrupts Overprotected and introduces Francois to Madeline has been cut completely, and Juliet now encourages François to be confident in standing up to his father and it goes straight into Confident. A small change to the end of Stronger, Juliet belts the penultimate "I'm-----" note and then it fades out quietly and she runs off.

The costumes are largely similar, however the biggest difference is in the night club/Blow scene, there aren't extravagant ball costumes and they are just in similar versions of what ensemble were already wearing. We did miss the old ones! But I assume the previous elaborate costumes are hard to ship around without damaging.

Gerardine Sacdalan was absolutely outstanding in her professional debut as Juliet. She was confident, likeable, had huge amounts of energy, fantastic dancer and an incredible voice. She is the lead this show deserves. Max Martin came out to do a speech after boss and included a special bow for her and the other 3 Urdang grads (beautifully, all 4 of them cover Juliet) who were making their stage debut. Almost unbelievable that she was at drama school a couple of months ago and is now deservably leading a UK tour.

Lara Denning was a fantastic and assured Anne in quite a young/ green company. Her That's The Way It Is brought the house down and she's vocally the best Anne I've seen. I've got to say, the women in this cast are massively out singing the men!

Sandra Marvin was a great Angelique, always love a Northern nurse. Jack Danson was good, a solid Romeo. I found Jordan Broatch (May) and Kyle Cox (Francois) slightly underwhelming, they don't quite live up to the brilliance of Billy Nethers and Jo Foster. But I do think a lot of that could have been nerves.

I was a complainer about the stunt casting...but I hold my hands up and say it works. Dr Ranj was surprisingly passable as Lance - it works because the part allows for an over the top, dodgy accent that he fully leans into. And I would say he was getting a lot more laughs than I've seen a non stunt cast Lance receive, the audience must be rooting for him. Matt Cardle is reminiscent of Oli Tompsett in speaking style, incredibly similar accent. Ironically, probably the weakest vocals I've seen in a Shakespeare but again could be nerves and an increased schedule of rehearsals. My main issue is that I have never seen anyone do that part as well as Oli, so he was always going to be set up to fail in my eyes. However Matt did very well and got more at ease in the second half.

The ensemble were fantastic, amazing energy and all clearly thrilled to be there. Also slick dealing with a lot of set movement in this production.

I already forsee an issue with illness and covers. From what I can see there are 2 offstage swings and 2 onstage swings. Meaning if more than 2 people are out, they are already onto a cut show. The Anne & Angelique understudies are the same 2 people, and the Shakespeare and Lance understudies are the same 2 people. This is incredibly bizarre to me as it means as soon as you have a 2nd cover on, you have a lead that is completely uncovered. I presume this is a cost saving exercise and given the amount of cut shows London had with 4+ offstage swings, it's disappointing to see.

Anyway, hugely enjoyable night and the audience lapped it up. I really hope that energy continues across the country as this show really deserves the audiences.

I did see Jordan once but apologies I can't remember his Romeo...! It's definitely not as camped up as Tom's, bit more reigned in. However that could also be me comparing a first night v Tom on the last night! I'd say it's closest to Carl's.

I didn't notice any changes to Everybody or Problem other than slight staging differences without the revolve, the ensemble have to put a bit more work in travelling around the stage without it.

I would definitely recommend seeing it! It's still the show we love.

This is the poll as it stood for the Opera Hhouse and Shaftesbury runs.. I think it might be interesting to have a new poll for the tour? Hope you agree! 

Just to add, I probably count my first time seeing this in London as one of my best and most enjoyable nights at the theatre. I had such a fantastic time watching and experiencing it. I loved it.

Whether I will be able to see this again on tour (or indeed anything) given my health situation at the moment I don't know but I'd love to.

Brief analysis from my 2 viewings last week:
Very glad to have this show back. As mentioned above Bway/Aus changes added and then some! Its also a shame they have cut the show further. Down to 10 ensemble from 12. Down to 2 offstage swings from 6. When illness and injury hit I expect they are really going to struggle. Lord Capulet cut too!
Gerardine and Lara really are the stand outs. Stunning vocal and acting choices from both. Gerardine has an alternate Juliet who will perform twice a week.
Matt and Ranj - both strong. Took me a bit to warm to them both but as Act 1 progressed it clicked and it worked. Matt is the most different Shakespeare I have seen (having Seen Oli/Carl Man/Alex Tranter and Rob Mills from Australia) - although in a way still very similar. I think its a role that so moulded around Oli’s version it is hard to deviate or put you stamp on it. I noticed last week when ‘quoting himself’ as Shakespeare Matt said a ‘Knock Knock’ joke to Anne however he did not say this on my second viewing. I know they had a show stop the day before I went at this point so wondering if he was stalling slightly to allow more change time behind the curtain? Ranj’s accent is so bad that its so good and really makes the show. This is surprising brilliant casting.
Jordan Broach as May - very sweet but also very by the book and robotic. A slightly toned down version of Joe Forster’s May they certainly do a good job.
On the other hand Kyle Cox as Francois… extremely disappointing. Having seen him also being miscast as Paul in ‘Aint too Proud’ due to his vocals, I was so sad to see him cast in this role as I do love the role of Francois. Notable line change to Lance when Francois says ‘I’m glad you chose the small codpiece’ instead of ‘Just call it a party dad’.
Jack Danson as Romeo also slightly disappointing as well. Not much character or personality brought to the role. He hasnt played on much of the funny parts of the role which hit well with the audience either but hoping this wil come over the coming months.
Sandra as Nurse - there was something about her that I just really liked. Her vocals were nothing special but loved having a Northern nurse! She also had good chemistry with Juliet and Lance.

I'm not that surprised, it's doing a 2 week stint which is overkill. The show isn't known out with the 'London musical' scene and to have a glance at the advertising, you wouldn't have a clue that it's a twist on Romeo and Juliet, nor a jukebox musical. 

I'm not a jukebox musical fan but to look at it from a business perspective, they need  to push that aspect of it to get bums on seats.

Just booked to see this in Oxford in September. I tend to avoid jukebox musicals but being a child of the 90s/early 00s this songbook was too tempting!