“Cute” isn’t a word we usually use to describe Romeo and Juliet. No matter how you slice it, Shakespeare’s play is about violent gangs, angry parents, and two teens in a doomed romance. So what’s with all the cute teddy bears staring at you like souls trapped in a cotton-candy purgatory at the Circle in the Square Theatre?
Turns out, director Sam Gold has aimed his high-energy and sexy Romeo and Juliet at a new generation of theatergoers who celebrate diversity, gender fluidity, and an obsession with two bright young stars. Prepare for deafening screams when Kit Connor (heartthrob of the hit Netflix show Heartstopper) does a pull-up in a sheer black tank top (by Enver Chakartash) to receive a kiss from the radiant Rachel Zegler (Maria from Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story) in one of the hottest balcony scenes you’ll ever see. But more about that in a minute.
The Montagues and the Capulets are still causing civil unrest in Verona with their petty arguments. That bodes ill for Romeo Montague (played by Connor with unmatched charisma) and Juliet Capulet (Zegler winning our hearts from her first breath). The two teenagers hastily marry, but another street fight spells doom for the couple after Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin Tybalt (an impressive Tommy Dorfman, doubling as Juliet’s nurse), and as punishment Romeo is banished. Trying to reunite the couple, Friar Laurence (a marvelous Gabby Beans, doubling as Mercutio) hatches a plan that goes fatally wrong.
With an athletic, young cast of brawling Montagues and Capulets wearing Hello Kitty backpacks and making out with each other once in a while, this won’t look like any Romeo and Juliet you’ve seen before (the collective dots has designed a black circular stage that hides a colorful reveal and is positioned intimately in the middle of the theater). Instead, there’s booming music (by Jack Antonoff, previously of the band Fun) and sound effects (by Cody Spencer), pyrotechnic lighting (by Isabella Bryd), dancing, and nonstop action (choreography and movement by Sonya Tayeh) — all of which create a rock-concert experience.
Antonoff wrote a few forgettable songs that Gold has plunked into the action (musician Sarah Goldstone plays the music from a DJ perch illuminated by a clubby electric Cross). They don’t add much to the narrative, but they do give a couple actors chances to shine. Gían Pérez (playing Paris and others) knocks our socks off with his gorgeous voice in the Act 2 opener “Best Lie,” and Zegler nearly blows the roof off with the love ballad “Man of the House.” The intrusive songs kill the play’s dramatic tension in its tracks, but it’s hard to be mad when the voices are this strong.
Music also frustratingly interrupts one of the play’s solemn moments when Pérez enters to cheer up the crowd with a crowd-clapping rendition of Fun’s “We Are Young.” The coddling of Gen Z sensibilities doesn’t last long, though. Taheen Modak, playing the apothecary, takes a knife to an enormous teddy bear and guts it to retrieve the deadly drug with which Romeo will poison himself (so much for “cute”). The scene is an interesting commentary on a generation that has spent much of its time hiding behind “happy” online personas, but there’s nary a smartphone to be found among the cast.
Beans, who got a Tony nom for The Skin of Our Teeth, crushes her role as Mercutio with a great death scene by garden sheers. Dorfman gives a campy portrayal of Juliet’s nurse, which she morphs out of with ease to play the swaggering Tybalt. Sola Fadiran isn’t quite as agile in his role-swapping. His Lady Capulet comes off as high-pitched and flighty, but he shows us a terrifying Capulet in a scathing late-show speech.
It’s Connor and Zegler, however, who you’ll really walk away remembering. Connor has established himself as a first-rate leading man as Romeo, not to mention a sexy one thanks to a pair of toned arms that are almost always on display. Zegler, though not quite his Shakespearean equal, shines in every moment she’s onstage. And their balcony scene is one for the ages. When Juliet’s bed dramatically descends from the flies, Connor grabs hold and pulls himself up, muscles flexing. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Broadway audience go that wild.
There are sure to be some parents in the audience who won’t get what all the fuss is about, but this production is more for the kids, and if you’re looking for a way to get a teen into live theater, this R&J is a gateway play. I found myself looking at two young people in the front row who were living for every word. Eyes wide, mouths open, and clasping each other’s hands, they were literally on the edge of their seats. I spoke with them afterward, and they told me that the play had been absolutely life-changing. No other praise would sound as sweet.