Review: & Juliet at the Liverpool Empire ****1/2

In the 18th Century there was a vogue for rewriting Shakespeare to appeal to Georgian audiences and which included introducing new characters, cutting others, changing scenes and – in the case of King Lear – adding a happy ending which became the norm for more than a century.

And who hasn’t thought ‘what if’ when the epilogue rolls around? Certainly, when it comes to the Bard’s female characters. What if someone had taken Ophelia aside for example and said ‘honestly, move on, he’s not worth it?’ or – a particular teeth-grinding example – Katherina had told Petruchio to sod off and found someone who appreciated her just the way she was. Or, revolutionary thought, no one at all!

And thus to & Juliet, the glitzy, rollicking, irreverent jukebox musical woven around a Max Martin megamix of poptastic tunes and which posits the question – what if, when Juliet woke in the tomb and saw Romeo dead beside her, she hadn’t stabbed herself but instead got up and on with living?

David West Read’s story – taglined ‘there is life after Romeo’ – answers with an adventurous voyage of self-discovery in which the eponymous Juliet (played with enchanting brio and huge vocals by relative newcomer Gerardine Sacdalan) learns the lesson that whatever happens in life, you must be true to yourself.

It’s the premiere of Shakespeare’s much-anticipated new tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, but Mrs Shakespeare (babysitter sorted at home in Stratford, and up in town for a rare night out) has some – decidedly more upbeat - suggestions of her own for its young heroine’s ultimate fate.

A battle of wills (one Will, one Anne to be precise) ensues as Matt Cardle’s droll Bard and Lara Denning’s powerhouse Anne Hathaway embark on realising their competing plotlines, complete with some neat nods to the source story.

Anne has Juliet on her way to Paris with her posse which includes best friend May (Jordan Broatch), nurse Angelique (Sandra Marvin) and Anne herself in disguise.

Above: Gerardine Sacdalan as Juliet. Top: The cast of & Juliet. Photos by Matt Crockett

There, Juliet, who knows a thing or two about parental tyranny, liberates timid Francois ‘Frankie’ Du Bois (Kyle Cox) from his overbearing father Lance’s shadow.

The father in question is played by none other than telly’s Dr Ranj Singh complete with deliberately preposterous cod-accent and equally preposterous codpiece, some nifty Strictly-informed dance moves and a pantoesque romantic double act with the majestic Marvin.

But who will get a happily ever after and what will that look like?

Despite noble patronage, Shakespeare was a populist, telling vivid tales of love, lust, loss, tragedy, intrigue, vaunting ambition, cruelty, madness and meanness.

& Juliet is bright, bouncy, bubblegum hued, high-octane entertainment with its tongue firmly in its cheek. Imagine SIX the Musical crossed with a Horrible Histories, Shakespeare in Love, Upstart Crow and something a bit like Footloose.

But, rather like hiding vegetables in a sauce, it also cleverly imparts a lesson or two as well without its youthful audience feeling like they’re in front of a wipeboard.

Above: Shakespeare (Matt Cardle) and Anne Hathaway (Lara Denning) plus cast in & Juliet. Photo by Matt Crockett

This mostly comes through one of two subplots, this one involving the Shakespeares and in which Denning’s magnificent Anne gives poignant voice to her feelings of loneliness in a marriage where she has always had to complete for her husband’s affections with the lure of the stage and public acclaim.

Against this, her feminist focus on giving a young Juliet agency over her own future takes on a resonance that no amount of belting pop numbers can achieve.

Saying that, the young crowd-pleasing soundtrack gives it a good go, packing in almost 30 hits penned by Swedish pop Svengali Max Martin, or by Martin in collaboration with others, and originally sung by stars like Britney, Jessie J, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry and The Backstreet Boys.

While ‘boys’ don’t generally get much of a look in in this celebration of female empowerment, there is a lovely moment in the second half where Shakespeare, Lance, Frankie, May and a resurrected Romeo (Jack Danson) form Da Bois Band to deliver a choreographed homage to The Backstreet Boys’ Everybody.

The production’s ensemble bring vocal richness to the party, although most songs are delivered at gig level fortissimo which can eventually get a bit wearing.

But as a bold and bright slice of larger-than-life (revisionist) entertainment, appealing to young theatregoers and providentially arriving at the Empire during half term week, it’s not that far from (insert expletive here) perfect.