The award-winning anthemic pop musical '& Juliet' comes from the mind of David West Read ('Schitt’s Creek'), and features music from the legendary five-time GRAMMY award-winning songwriter/producer Max Martin.
'& Juliet' sees Shakespeare's most famous love story remixed, revamped, and retold through some of the most iconic pop songs of the last three decades, in an uplifting story of self-discovery, empowerment, and love – begging the question, is there life after Romeo?
“I think audiences will come in with expectations of their own, which is cool because it means that we get to play with those expectations,” Jesse Dutlow, who plays a new face in the 'Romeo & Juliet' saga known as May, says. “We’ve known this story, in various forms, for years. What we’re doing here is so fresh and new, with different characters – May being one of them – and different takes on characters like Angelique [played by Casey Donovan].”
Image © Daniel Boud
“You still get the staples of Shakespearean gold – high stakes and drama – with the cast slipping into Shakespearean verse, which is poetic and beautiful – and the music really pairs well with that.
“We say that Max Martin is the Shakespeare of pop, but genuinely his lyrics are so perfect for the Shakespearean world, and audiences will be blown away!”
Jesse Dutlow comes to the production from Yve Blake's 'Fangirls', and previous works in community theatre. Inspired by R&B icons like Beyonce, Brandy, Janelle Monae, and Alicia Keys – their interest and passion in musical theatre started from a young age. “I fell in love with performing as a kid, I grew up in church and my family loves music – we sang our whole lives!”
Thanks to a friend who loved the musical, Dutlow later auditioned for May – Juliet's best friend in the show – and at the time they weren’t entirely out as non-binary. They had a lot of questions about it, and thought the casting agents wouldn’t want to see them audition because of it.
“They wanted to see me as May, and it was a beautiful audition process. I was so supported the whole time. Having never done a show of this scale, just having a team that wanted to get the best out of me was just a beautiful process.”
In relation to the queer experience: “We’re really putting on the full spectrum of what that means – the joy, the pride, and at times the hard and real stuff. Dealing with your parents, coming out, all of that gets explored. We even have an amazing queer love story in the show, which I get to be a part of as May. It is so high energy camp, and beautiful numbers that everyone will love.”
Dutlow shares that 'I’m Not Yet A Girl, Not Yet A Woman' has been their favourite song to rehearse.
“It’s my big number – it has been such an honour to do a deep dive into it with the creative team to find my version of it. It’s an iconic show, but what it isn’t trying to do is replicate itself from the West End or Broadway performances – we are so empowered to discover our own versions of these characters, and tell an honest story.”
'& Juliet' joins heavy hitter musicals like 'Hamilton' and 'SIX', as a new wave of musical theatre in Australia. '& Juliet' is special in that 'Romeo & Juliet' isn’t based on historic or real-life people, but with characters that are still readily known – unless, of course, you live under a rock!
Image © Daniel Boud
“What I think is really cool is that the diversity and representation become meaningful. I don’t see myself as a person of colour playing a white role – I’m a person of colour, playing a person of colour, a queer one too!”
“I just think for young people of colour, and for young queer people, to come and see gender diverse people on stage, and people of colour, is going to really change the game for young performers who, up until now, may not have thought they had a space in the musical theatre scene.”
“I’m so excited to see new works like '& Juliet' emerge – especially from Australian writers. I hope that it’s the future of Australian theatre, instead of leaning on imports – we have some amazing talent here!”
'& Juliet' plays exclusively at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre, making it the third major production of the West End hit after London, and New York.
'& Juliet' plays Regent Theatre (Melbourne) until 14 May.
