Relive some late 1990s and early 2000s youth!

On Sunday, February 8, 2026, I got to some reliving of my high school and college years in the form of pop music.

I know was Super Bowl Sunday, but I had the opportunity to go see the Broadway production, “& Juliet”. Quite honestly, this was a better experience than sitting at home and watching the New England Patriots get their ass handed to them. From what I understand, they lost really, really badly; I walked in well after the halftime show to see a very low score. It was the fourth quarter and the Seahawks were up 19 to 0. At some point the Pats scored a touchdown (I had walked away from the TV after checking when I walked in the door). Unfortunately, New England would not and could not finish on top, in order to beat Seattle at this late stage of the game. Oh well; when I saw the final 29-13 in the morning, I guess the Washington State fans were extremely happy at the results. Seattle kept a good lead for a solid chunk of the time.

“& Juliet” started relatively on time with a mini show of the cast setting the stage. They pretended to do their work along with waving and saying hi to the audience. There was a moment when the woman playing Juliet sat down at the edge of the stage and talked to the people in the Pit. As the actors moved around, they greeted each other with high fives and quick dancing, which was like the 1980s style pop and lock break dancing. They continued to move set pieces and dance with each other while some of bass heavy instrumental music played on. There were no major speaking roles during this action sequence since everyone was doing their own stagehand work and they needed the focus. I know it was all for show, but it seemed a little redundant at the same time.

All of a sudden, we hear “hello!” come from the stage. It wasn’t a microphoned “hello”, as the show wasn’t quite ready to start. One person was holding signs that were used to inform the audience of “no electronics” and other similar requests, followed by a “thank you”. Once they were totally ready, the show began.

The show was kicked off with an enthusiastic “welcome to the stage and first show of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet””, as the cast started singing the first song, “Larger Than Life”.

Uh huh; this would be the first of many Backstreet Boys songs in the show. It was definitely going to be interesting, since I’m not a big BSB fan. Beggars can’t be choosers, but given my druthers, I think I’d still choose New Kids On The Block first (I’m biased), then *NSYNC, then Backstreet Boys. However, I am on the fence with 98°. I wasn’t a totally big fan, but I know some of their hits. Currently, I’ve yet to master the art of K-Pop, quite honestly, so I don’t know much about BTS or whatever their acronym is. On the flip side, I know what you’re thinking; yes, I can still see and attempt most of the dances to all those boy band songs. Don’t get me started because it’s awkward and humiliatingly bad.

Once finished with the opening number, the cast worked in a brief synopsis of the show we all think we know, character flaws and all. This was meant to be the very first show of “Romeo & Juliet”, so there would be a need for updating as the show progressed. From the point the description ended, it became a complete reimagining of what could have happened.

What this means is, the retelling of the original was in case you were not familiar with the story (current students) or needed a refresher (adults). Once they got that out of the way, it was the radio friendly, popular bubblegum music we smile and sing along with, that served to push the dialogue through the couple hours we sat there. It was something that was needed to guide Shakespeare and his wife along while they went toe to toe on why his version may or may not need some re-writes.

The music and dialogue together didn’t really seem strange or weird. It wasn’t like there was a lot of dialogue and all of a sudden they broke into song, or, they had songs that didn’t completely match the scene or dialogue. The show wasn’t meant to have all songs and little dialogue either – like some productions where they don’t match scenes and you have to struggle with following on. In the instance of this show, they used the songs as dialogue and kept it relevant so you knew what was happening. The songs chosen for this musical were already conversational pieces, so the actors were able to utilize that as part of their discussions.

 An example of this would be the song “I Want It That Way” by The Backstreet Boys.

Again, BSB was heavily used in this show (as well as a few Britney Spears). *NSYNC pops up wildly too. Like I stated earlier, this is a late 1990s and early 2000s pop heavy musical. There are some 2010s mixed in, but the show starts off in the 1998-2003 years.

During the scene for “I Want It That Way”, the characters of Shakespeare and his wife, Anne, are focusing on how to write and end “Romeo & Juliet”. Shakespeare is making the comments of it being his show, his writing, his style. This is his baby and he wants the performance to go his way. However, Anne sees it differently. She states how it could be changed just slightly: empower Juliet more and give her a greater voice. Don’t end it with the two lovebirds dying under false pretenses. What if Juliet woke up and restarted her life? What if she did something else? How can we explore her doing something different with her teenage and adult years? Shakespeare fought against those opinions by stating what he wanted even though his wife wanted her way.

This is why the songs were used as a tête-á-tête to match the speaking: as much as these earworms are mindlessly fun, they were used really great in the overall context to move the show forward. Each character stated their facts and reasons, ending with lines from “I want it that way”, including those specific sentences.

As the musical progressed, new characters were introduced and relationships created, per each Shakespeare spouse version. It wasn’t a mirroring of the original per se, but it was one person interjecting their version into the other. It was a flawless telling of a story without being too crazy and jarring - you knew what you were watching because it meshed into the other. They jumped in personally to say “cut the lights!” and the actors froze in place, shrouded in darkness. The Shakespeares were lit up and hashed the scene out together. They wanted it both their ways and one ended up walking off as the loser for that moment, only to say “cue the lights!” and the scene started up again.

There were quite a few moments where they made fun of William Shakespeare – not only as a person, but in his writing and style, as well as how he was one of the more famous people to push gender boundaries. This production did a fairly decent job of keeping things clean as possible, at least to an extent. There were some “bad words” used during the two and a half hours, including the use of Pink’s “Fuckin’ Perfect” song. However, it felt like the show was something you could still see today if you didn’t know it was based off of a 1597 tragedy. It was family friendly enough that it became both a tragedy and a comedy; but again, it added some profanity (it’s not that society isn’t used to hearing any of it, of course, it’s used sparingly enough) and some adult content. I think the music muddled down the main expletives and allowed some innuendos to go over the heads of any kid that was there, because let’s face it; a certain rodent production house has been doing similar things for decades. Honestly, the worst word was “douche” and it was in the context of calling one of the male characters that, as well as it being in relation to another character in the same instance. I don’t want to create major spoilers so that is all I will say for that particular word and scene.

There were some LGBTQ themes and I know that is a hot topic for some people. A side effect to this (and some slight opinion) is that there has to be some understanding that adults may find it inappropriate for little kids, or even themselves. Knowing that this is Shakespeare and Broadway (and in Florida), the two will eventually meet, mingle and create a show. We are in a strange reality where more productions seem to be using “the LGBTQ agenda” and a lot of people are against that, however it’s also become some sort of normal. Again, thinking back to “this being Shakespeare”, what did he do? Put men and women in drag and create shows; which was also touched upon in this production of “& Juliet”. There was at least a ten minute conversation between characters about this subject – how Shakespeare tried to push the boundary limits.

To elaborate a little more about the themes for this particular show, it seems that reviews have been well received, from what I’ve heard, but there have been some complaints because of the non-straight characters. People are finding it against their belief system and don’t find it acceptable for any form of human to see. Two of the reasons for the negative reviews are the fact people are in drag or the character is finding they like other people who are the same gender as themselves. It’s sad that there are people who have to find hate in everything, but things do happen. I would like to stay as neutral as possible on this subject, so please make sure you research the show (or shows) you are could or would like to see, in the event they are not to your liking. Please understand I’m not condoning the hatred because I don’t find it acceptable. I see these shows not because of an overall specific theme, but because it is entertainment and I’m not here to rip something apart based on some “agenda”. As I’ve said before, I’ll say it again: Do your research and if you see something you don’t like, as in this case, a show, you don’t have to see it. If something looks interesting, go for it – show and share the love.

Admittedly, again, I feel that the music kind of covered for any misgivings, to an extent. It is all bubblegum pop - “Roar” and “I Kissed A Girl” by Katy Perry, “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi, “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion, and quite the list from Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and a line or two from *NSYNC. This includes a single from Justin Timberlake. They are earworms a lot of people grew up with or are growing up with. The audio was thumping to the point it was rock concert worthy. There were some seriously bass heavy sounds with powerfully strong vocals. I think if I didn’t put my Apple Watch on “Do Not Disturb” and “Theater Mode”, it would have been going off every few minutes for “Loud Environment: Audio is above 90db”. The flashy visuals included the use of the Jumbotron, GOBOs and pyrotechnics, so there was a definite match for the wild music. It got to the point where it was literally a stadium show with random chit chat by the singers. There’s nothing wrong with it by any means, especially if that is something in your wheelhouse. I’m sure a lot of the older people didn’t like the loud noise, but there was plenty of opportunity for the crowd to clap, cry and whoop their way through the show.

Which brings me to another point of negative reviews: Although there were points where the laughter and applause got so loud, the actors had to stop for a minute, just to soak it all in. As much as I hate to be political, there were a few parts that were definitely politically inspired, even for today’s standards. Not to create spoilers, mind you, but I don’t really include the aforementioned “LGBTQ agenda” as part of the heavily political crazy (even though I can see where it might turn into a problem). There was a good amount of people who were enjoying the show and its poking fun of the current society we are living in.

Overall, this was a fairly good show. I had gone with my mother and one of our neighbors, so I did hear them laugh at the scenes and sing along to the songs. At the end, my mother said she “really enjoyed this show” and that she found it to be “the next generation’s “RENT”. I can see that comparison and understand where she’s coming from. I’m glad she enjoyed the show and had something to compare it to, not that you can compare any other show to “RENT”, given its theme, but point taken.

Would I see this show again? I honestly don’t know. It was a great show, don’t get me wrong. I bought a hoodie and I told Emi about it because she’d dig the sound and vision (mostly the vision) aspect of it, since she’s doing full time work at the House of Mouse rival. She would love the way the stage was lit, the random pyrotechnics (even in the first row of the audience), even the confetti bomb at one point. I personally was trying to enjoy the show but still was having some challenges because I was looking for mistakes while secretly doing the band dance to each song. It’s a vicious cycle of crazy some days because I want to enjoy the production at a full 100% but knowing some “industry secrets” from decades ago, I can’t forget those, so I look for them. It was fun, don’t get me wrong, but it was also a great experience to see since now I have something more to talk about and understand why people are positively hyping it up.

Without creating more of a long, spoiler induced post, I am going to stop here and think of the next thing to write. I have another review of a cleaning product I need to work on, so until I can sort out those words, dance like no one is watching and clean the earworms out of your head.

Cheers;

Pictures included below were taken with an iPhone 17, showing where I was located, and just basic set pieces because we couldn't use electronics during the show. 

The beginning of the show when everyone was sitting down, I wish I got a better picture of the stage. I should have walked down and taken a photo, so I'm sorry the pictures aren't as super clear and colorful. The walls with the artwork are the GOBOs and during intermission changed to the purple coloring. That's just a light shone on the walls - the images are on a metal disk in a studio light. The purple was during intermission, which I walked down to talk to someone I know, who was sitting closer to the stage.

The stage during intermission was reset to something else, and this time I did a somewhat better focus, sort of. The "Romeo" was taken at my seat, but I was paying more attention on getting the zoom more clear, but it's still washed out in light.

My mother did marvel at the seating though, as she has seen shows where she sat closer. She made the comment on how "The stage looks bigger when you're more up front". She's used to being 7 or 8 rows back, not 24. She still enjoyed it, and would love to see something else. We'll see, time will tell.

For those interested, Amazon has the soundtrack available to download (as an MP3 album) or purchase (as a CD or on vinyl). If more information is needed, there's an official site where you can preview things and see the trailer.