Toronto has seen Romeo and Juliet a hundred times over, tormenting audiences as they scream, internally and otherwise, for the teens not to make the same fatal choices. Most recently, the tragedy played out under the stars in Canadian Stage’s Dream in High Park. But rarely has anyone stopped to ask the simple but satisfying question: what if it were different? & Juliet finally does, rewriting history and giving Juliet a story that belongs to her.
Now playing at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, the Mirvish show — which was set to premiere Dec. 3 but faced a string of minor setbacks, including both technical issues and cast illness — has finally taken the stage and will continue to shine under the spotlight until May 17, 2026.
The hook itself is exceedingly obvious, yet no rendition has ever thought to ask it: William Shakespeare, having just finished his biggest tragedy yet, Romeo and Juliet, has invited his wife, Anne Hathaway (not the one from The Devil Wears Prada) to come see its debut. But there’s one problem: she hates the ending. The play swiftly shifts gears and becomes a battle of the sexes as Hathaway takes her chance at the quill and rewrites the ending we’ve all been waiting for. What if Juliet didn’t kill herself?
The jukebox musical built around Swedish hitmaker Max Martin’s catalogue (think Brittany Spears, Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry, and more), is written by Canadian playwright David West Read. The Scarborough-born, Markham-raised artist’s career has consistently brought Canadian voices and sensibilities into the spotlight; he’s best known as the Emmy Award-winning writer and executive producer behind Schitt’s Creek, one of the most successful Canadian television series of the past decade. With & Juliet, he brings the same sharp wit and comedic timing to the stage as he blends this pop spectacle with character-driven, historically inspired storytelling. Read’s roots are still firmly planted in this city, so much so that the show first previewed in Toronto before making its Broadway debut in 2022.
It begins swiftly and immediately, dropping us into Shakespeare’s world — but in this version Shakespeare (George Krissa) walks with a wink and a swagger and a touch of arrogance. This Will is smug, self-mythologizing, and high on his own success, often quoting himself and posing like the rockstar playwright of London. Anne (Julia McLellan) is the counterforce: sharper, steadier and tired of being written out of the story. Their tug-of-war over authorship becomes the show’s engine and later takes a turn for the serious when it unexpectedly becomes the emotional spine.
The show uses its historical-fiction sandbox cleverly, sprinkling in real-world texture: Anne in the countryside, Will in the city, the domestic distance that builds in the gaps. It’s a scavenger hunt of fact and fable.
Read set the show up for success by building on a well-known canon that immediately draws an audience, and he paired it with a catalogue of pop music that fills seats regardless of interest in live theatre. All this combined with his wit and charm, already proven to land with viewers across the continent, it doesn’t come as a surprise when I say Mirvish’s remounting is an instant smash. But this time, it’s the cast that carries it.
Vanessa Sears, as Juliet, is the kind of performer who makes a notoriously demanding role look effortless. The Dora award-winning artist whose career has been seen on Broadway, Stratford, Shaw and Mirvish stages brings a technical precision and emotional clarity that needs to be experienced live to be understood. Grounded, resonant and unwavering in a way that makes this rewritten Juliet immediately believable as a woman stepping into her own agency, her voice carries authority without losing warmth. She even manages to deliver the show’s modern slang with an ease that won’t make you cringe.
Opposite her, Julia McLellan’s Anne Hathaway is the production’s grounding element. She’s warm, commanding and precise about when to play for laughs and when to break open. McLellan’s performance is one that takes this show from being one about Juliet’s rewrite and turns it into Anne’s reclamation.
Sarah Nairne, as Angélique (Juliet’s nurse), is a scene-stealing joy: razor-sharp timing, audience-savvy rhythm and a surprising tenderness that keeps the character from becoming purely a side character. Together these women take the stage and dominate, turning & Juliet into the kind of female-driven theatrical force that mirrors the very themes and undercurrents the play itself is asking us to consider.
Mirvish’s & Juliet is a crowd pleaser, one that any Torontonian would enjoy, regardless of their stance on musicals. It’s funny, warm and unexpectedly affecting with a cast strong enough to carry you through each season of their performances.
