REVIEW: ROMEO + JULIET Production Great, Script Kinda Outta Nowhere Tho?

by James La Bella. @James.La.Bella.

Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor sparkle in the new Broadway show Romeo + Juliet, but the production left this reviewer asking…where exactly did this script come from? 

New work on Broadway is always a risk. From McNeal to others, we’ve seen time and again how difficult it is to get an audience to fall in love with a new story. So, while watching Kit Connor do a pull-up onstage, I couldn’t help but wonder “Could I do that?” And then, “How did this script make it to Broadway?”  

After I finished doing my public pull up (went bad), I sat down at the computer and took to Google, the thinking man’s ChatGPT.

A thorough search uncovered that Romeo + Juliet is actually an adaptation of an earlier work, & Juliet, a musical fable about Betsy Wolfe. But is being Betsy Wolfe-adjacent enough to make a play sell on Broadway? Other factors must be considered here. 

One has to recognize that Rachel Zegler is no stranger to making random old theatre scripts exciting again. Look at West Side Story, also an adaptation of & Juliet. It’s no surprise Zegler would jump at the chance to make some sort-of arbitrarily chosen jukebox-musical-offshoot relevant. 

All the same, while massaging my swollen and massive biceps, I couldn’t help but feel I’d reached another dead end. Romeo PLUS Juliet? Sam GOLD? What did it all mean?

I guess I’ll never know where Romeo + Juliet came from. I guess I’ll never do a pull up. But I think that’s a good thing. These are all good things. I don’t want to know things. I don’t want to do a pull up. I just want Betsy Wolfe and Rachel Zegler to sing a beautiful duet. And isn’t that enough?