Kate Connor and Rachel Ziegler in Romeo and Juliet

Broadway review by Adam Feldman

There is a comic scene at the end of the fourth act Romeo and Juliet This is almost always cut off. Juliet’s family has just discovered what they believe is her body; As the musicians hired for her wedding prepared to leave, a domestic servant asked them for a paradoxically happy anthem: “Play me some cheerful waste to comfort me.” Sam Gold’s new Broadway production of the play not only preserves this scene, but makes it so. A type of thesis statement. The server pauses for a moment, demanding to listen to Fun’s 2011 somber party anthem, warning: “If you don’t play it, I’ll do it.” “I’m fighting you.”

That last line is one of the show’s rare deviations from the 16th-century text, but it captures the spirit of Gould’s aggressive Generation Z take on Shakespeare’s tragedy about family discord. It’s not just that “We Are Young” is modern (as are the costumes, props, and situations of this production), or that the choice of this particular song — which was co-written by pop hitmaker Jack Antonoff, who also penned three new songs for This Production – Symbolizes the series’ postmodern reference: as in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film, the title is designed as follows: Romeo + Julietlike graffiti on a bathroom stall; Rachel Ziegler’s Juliet is best known for playing a character based on Juliet in Steven Spielberg’s film. West Side Story; Kate Connor’s Romeo has explored the story of forbidden love in his Netflix series Heart stopper. It’s not even that the song’s lyrics evoke a sense of possibility and a sense of exhaustion that are baked into the notions of setting the world on fire and burning it brighter than the sun. (Juliet says: “Take him and cut him into little stars. And he will make the face of the sky so beautiful / That all the world will love the night / And worship not the blazing sun.”)

Romeo + Juliet | Photo: Courtesy Matthew Murphy

What makes “We’re Young” ring true is the most literal of all: this Romeo and Juliet It has a lot to do with being young. The nightclub set, according to collective design points, includes inflatable furniture and a shopping cart filled with teddy bears; Costume designer Enver Çakartas dresses the cast in sweatpants, T-shirts and jeans. Don’t forget in this version that Juliet is only 13 years old; Ziegler, beautiful and petite, is incredibly adolescent in her enthusiasm and impatience. (She has the romantic rebelliousness of someone who’s been sheltered her whole life.) Connor’s Romeo is healthy—with his short hair, peaches-and-cream skin, and biceps in sleeveless tops, he looks like a Russian gymnast—and that also makes him look underdeveloped. (When he philosophizes that “Love turns toward love as schoolchildren turn from their books/But love from love turns toward school with heavy looks,” you are reminded that he is not far from school himself.)

In fact, this version of Verona doesn’t seem to contain any adults at all: just vaping, dancing, posing, and weird kids. In Gould’s adaptation—Michael Sexton and Ayanna Thompson are credited as drama and script consultants—the warring Montagu and Capulet families are almost all teenagers. Romeo’s parents are left out of the play entirely, with some of their lines assigned to younger characters; So does the prince, whose failure to stop the dynastic war in his city earns him a share of the blame for the story’s unfortunate ending. Juliet’s parents are played by the same actor, Sola Vaderan, and most of the other actors also play multiple roles, with varying success. Gabe Baines, convincing as the well-meaning Friar Lawrence, doubles less effectively as the strutting Mercutio; Gian Pérez efficiently paints Romeo’s rival Paris as a nice man with a scary underside, but it’s not always clear which of his three characters is which. Tommy Dorfman plays the delightfully saucy nurse — “I’m so upset because every part of me is shaking,” she says as she admires her fan — but she’s not threatening enough as Tybalt.

Romeo + Juliet | Photo: Courtesy Matthew Murphy

If Romeo and Juliet stand out in this production, it is partly because their surroundings are often blurry. Aside from some charming verses from the stars, what you’re likely to take with you are Antonoff’s songs – it makes sense for Romeo to fall in love with Juliet when he sees her singing on stage, with the charisma of a pop star – and a few moments of scenic beauty: A bed floats from the ceiling, with Connor doing the pulling; Floor that folds out into a flower bed; A giant teddy bear in which the anesthetic pharmacist hides his most dangerous poisons.

Gold’s staging makes dynamic use of side areas, including the aisles and catwalk above the stage, but the environment he creates is tight. Verona has no sense of existence outside of an Instagrammable party space – or its rules. Ultimately, I think this undermines the play; It highlights the role of simple bad luck in Romeo and Juliet’s fate, and detracts from the larger point. This production seems to be aiming to appeal to TikTok audiences who don’t know much about the flow of the play, which is a laudable goal, and I think it will succeed. But these newcomers may be surprised to find that what they thought was a tragedy of young people crushed by societal constraints is actually a sad story of two sweet children dying due to lack of adult supervision.

Romeo + Juliet. Circle in the arena theater (Broadway). Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Sam Gold. With Kate Connor, Rachel Ziegler, Gaby Bynes, Tommy Dorfman, Sola Vaderan, Gian Perez. Run time: 2 hours and 30 minutes. One break.

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Romeo + Juliet | Photo: Courtesy Matthew Murphy