Strong Women, Modern Music, Great Voices & Funny Reviewed by Mary Alderson To really enjoy & Juliet, you need to be familiar with the original Romeo & Juliet. You know, the one by William Shakespeare where they end up dead. And then forget it, and suspend your belief in Shakespearean literature. & Juliet is a wonderful comedic romp, with energetic music and clever humour. The story features both the characters found in the original Romeo & Juliet, and the characters Shakespeare himself and his long-suffering wife Anne Hathaway. None of them are doing anything particularly Shakespearean. & Juliet, featuring a brilliant Canadian cast, is currently on stage at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, a Mirvish production, in Toronto. I first saw & Juliet when the original production was  at Mirvish before it moved to Broadway in 2022. I loved the humour. It was reminiscent of the way Wayne & Schuster made fun of classic literature. This writer is as funny as Wayne & Shuster, adding a twist to Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, using familiar Shakespearean phrases and creating silly but hilarious responses. The author of & Juliet is Canadian David West Read and he knows award-winning comedy, having been a writer with the much-lauded TV series Schitt’s Creek. The music in & Juliet is all written or co-written by Swedish record producer and songwriter Karl Martin Sandberg, professionally known as Max Martin. The songs were written over the last 20 to 25 years, and have been made famous by the likes of Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Bon Jovi, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande, Celine Dion, Demi Lovato, Backstreet Boys and others. & Juliet rocks a myriad of popular songs, and the lyrics have been brilliantly woven into the plot. The plot centres around Juliet herself, and Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s ...