& Juliet (national touring) at Music Hall, Kansas City, MO

2025-11-18 to 11-23

“Parting is such sweet sorrow” but, what if…?

William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is one of the all-time classic love stories, and a tragedy as well, but what if Juliet didn’t decide to end it all- where would her life lead and what adventures would she go on? That is the premise and musical question of “& Juliet”, playing now through Sunday night at the Music Hall in downtown Kansas City.

Tickets still available here: & Juliet | American Theatre Guild

Created by, and with a book by David West Read, the Emmy Award®-winning writer from TV’s “Schitt’s Creek,” and with a soundtrack based on the songwriting and collaboration and production talents of numerous early 21^st Century pop hits from Swedish super producer Max Martin, this comedic musical flips the script on the famous and maybe greatest love story ever told.

In the story of this modernized remix, Juliet gets a fresh beginning and a second chance at life and love, and is adamant to do things her way. As the story shifted from Verona to Paris, the accompanying playlist includes familiar pop-radio tracks like “Since U Been Gone‚” “Roar,” “Baby One More Time,” “Larger Than Life‚” “That’s The Way It Is,“ and “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”- most of which are cleverly inserted to help nudge the plot along, instead of a random placement that serves no other purpose, except to hear the song.

The production’s bright costumes were an amalgamation of period-piece meets modern streetwear, the scenery and backdrops were mostly on-screen, and the lighting enhanced the production design and emphasized the color-blocking of the scene, with patterns and verbiage even beamed onto the venue’s side walls.

The production got underway with an impactful one-two of Backstreet Boys hits, then moved to Britney Spears’ breakout song before sling-shoring back to another Backstreet hit (and so on). The comic relief often came from the familiar songs’ opening lyric line, dropped by the actors with exact comedic timing.

The characters of writer William Shakespeare (CJ Eldred) and wife Anne Hathaway (Crystal Kellogg) not only frame the show and break the fourth wall by speaking directly to the audience, but they surprisingly remain central players through most of the show. Juliet, played by young Fabiola Caraballo Quijada effectively anchors the story, showing the needed spirit to want her character to be empowered and independent.

Much of the other comedy of the show comes from the ‘older’ couple- Juliet’s nurse and confidant, Angélique played by Kathryn Allison (who we interviewed just prior to this KC stop) who had several opportunities to showcase her impressive and large voice, and Lance, played by the towering deep-vocalized Paul-Jordan Jansen, both of whom who are veteran scene partners, returning to the production following last year’s touring run.

In addition to a very diverse cast, modern relationships are shown as well, with Lance’s son, Francois (played by Noah Marlowe) catching the eye of the playful May (played by Nico Ochoa) who sang a dramatic solo on “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” then both collaborated together on the lively, “I Kissed a Girl.”

The second act began with the Ellie Goulding hit, “Love Me Like You Do” (we love Ellie but hadn’t realized Martin co-wrote and produced that smash) and a vocal mash-up of Iggy Azalea’s “Problem” and The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” was one of the show’s musical highlights. More Backstreet hits followed (and it would finally make sense why Juliet was pronouncing Francois’ last name ‘Du Bois’, differently) with Katy Perry’s freeing anthem, “Roar” would help end the story (but maybe leaving the door for another future chapter too).

As the cast took their bows, Justin Timberlake’s 2016 hit, “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” sent most of the crowd back into the night with a smile, many humming those very familiar songs.

“& Juliet” is not one of those musicals to intensely concentrate to listen to or dissect every detail of its story and production; rather, it’s a production to sit back and relax to, leave any worries of the day at the door, and immerse yourself in the enthusiastic fun and joyful abandon of the production.

& JULIET TOUR DATES

NOV 18 – 23 Kansas City, MO Music Hall
Tuesday, Nov 18 7:30 PM
Wednesday, Nov 19 7:30 PM
Thursday, Nov 20 7:30 PM
Friday, Nov 21 7:30 PM
Saturday, Nov 22 2:00 PM
Saturday, Nov 22 7:30 PM
Sunday, Nov 23 1:00 PM
Sunday, Nov 23 6:30 PM
NOV 25 – 30 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre
DEC 3 – 7 Norfolk, VA Chrysler Hall
DEC 9 – 14 Rochester, NY RBTL Auditorium
DEC 16 – 21 Toledo, OH Stranahan Theater
DEC 30 – JAN 4 Miami, FL Adrienne Arsht Center
JAN 6 – 11 Orlando, FL Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
JAN 13 – 25 Fort Lauderdale, FL Broward Center
JAN 27 – FEB 1 Naples, FL Hayes Hall
FEB 3 – 8 Fort Myers, FL Mann Performing Arts Hall at FSW
FEB 10 – 15 Tampa, FL Straz Center
FEB 17 – 22 North Charleston, SC North Charleston PAC
FEB 24 – MAR 1 Huntsville, AL Von Braun Performing Arts Center
MAR 3 – 8 Omaha, NE Orpheum Theater
MAR 10 – 15 Grand Rapids, MI Devos Performance Hall
MAR 17 – 22 Montreal, QC Place Des Arts
MAR 24 – 29 Ottawa, ON Southam Hall
MAR 31 – APR 12 Detroit, MI Fisher Theatre
APR 14 – 19 Hershey, PA Hershey Theatre
APR 21 – 26 Syracuse, NY Landmark Theatre
APR 28 – MAY 3 Schenectady, NY Proctors
MAY 5 – 10 Hartford, CT The Bushnell
MAY 12 – 17 Richmond, VA Altria Theater
MAY 19 – 24 BIRMINGHAM, AL BJCC Concert Hall
MAY 26 – 31 Fayetteville, AR Walton Arts Center
JUN 2 – 7 Appleton, WI Fox Cities Performing Arts Center
JUN 9 – 14 Milwaukee, WI Marcus Performing Arts Center
JUN 16 – 21 Indianapolis, IN Clowes Memorial Hall
JUN 23 – 28 East Lansing, MI Wharton Center
JUL 7 – 12 San Antonio, TX The Majestic Theatre
JUL 14 – 19 Austin, TX Bass Hall
JUL 22 – AUG 2 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
AUG 4 – 9 Knoxville, TN Tennessee Theatre
AUG 11 – 16 Charlotte, NC Belk Theatre

National Tour Photo Credits: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

National / International act coming through the Midwest / Kansas City area? Please email details to johnc@weheartmusic.com with a good lead time to be considered for Show Preview and Show Coverage consideration.