An open letter – and date night recommendation – to Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry | Canada Voices

Dear Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry,

Are you busy for the next two weeks?

I mean, yes, I’m sure you are: You are a former prime minister and an active pop-princess-slash-occasional-space-voyager. I’m sure your schedules are upsetting on a visceral level – and despite how much you post about each other on Instagram, I’m sure private date nights are rare.

But on the off chance you have a free evening before Aug. 2, let me implore you to catch the all-Canadian production of & Juliet, which will end its too-short run next Sunday.

Listen: I don’t make a habit of thinking about you two when I go to the theatre. (It’s nothing personal; I don’t think much about Lady Gaga or Stephen Harper while I’m working, either.)

But at this weekend’s singalong performance of & Juliet, it occurred to me that you ought to see this show. And while you won’t have as much fun as I did on Sunday – I think I want to experience every jukebox musical as a singalong from now on – you might be surprised by how much you enjoy yourselves.

Katy – can I call you Katy? – I’m sure you know that three of your songs are used in this show. But on Sunday, I was reminded just how well the creators of & Juliet have re-appropriated your work – and Swedish producer Max Martin’s back catalogue more broadly – to tell a new version of Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet doesn’t die and instead gets to experience the delights of girlhood in a haze of confetti and 2010s pop music.

I’ve no doubt you know all this. But it’s possible you’ve forgotten that your song Teenage Dream – a favourite of mine, I’ll admit – helps to explore a romantic plotline between Juliet’s nurse, Angélique (Sarah Nairne), and her on-again-off-again French lover, Lance (David Silvestri).

As the lovebirds sing your song after sleeping together, they recognize that they’re not too old to fall in love again, or to dance as if no one’s watching. Even better: Lance, played so brilliantly for laughs by Silvestri, speaks with a swoony French accent that can’t help but make Angélique weak in the knees.

I’ll wager a guess that the above might hit close to home.

Prime Minister Trudeau – something tells me my editors won’t let me call you Justin – you’ve had a weird couple of years. But surely you still believe in the power of Canadian arts and culture, the singular talent of our writers and performers. & Juliet’s sweet script is written by a Canadian – Schitt’s Creek’s David West Read – and, more to the point, its all-Canadian cast puts Broadway’s to shame.

On Sunday – explicitly billed as a singalong performance – the audience quieted on its own accord whenever Juliet (Vanessa Sears) began to sing. Sears hasn’t just settled into the role since the Toronto production opened last December – she’s improved tenfold, and on Sunday, I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I’m not sure I’ve ever witnessed a more impressive performance on a Mirvish stage: As Juliet, Sears is confident, clear-toned and funny, and her work deserves to be seen by as many people as possible before & Juliet says goodbye.

That’s where you two come in.

By now, you’ve made clear you like live music: You go to Coachella! You hop! All in, you seem to be a fun, affable couple, and judging by our former prime minister’s recent fashion choices, you seem to be in a phase of embracing your inner youth.

& Juliet, in all its silly, confetti-cannoning glory, has been a bright spot in Toronto theatre since its pre-Broadway tryout four years ago. It’s the jukebox musical by which I now measure all jukebox musicals – while its script is unapologetically goofy, it’s far less thin than its bio-musical contemporaries – and its all-star cast couldn’t be working harder. Even understudy Tiera Lee Watts, who played Anne Hathaway (no, not that one) at Sunday’s matinee, offered a performance so powerful I couldn’t quite comprehend it as I mouthed along to the songs that have dominated Top-40 airwaves for most of my life.

The all-Canadian production of & Juliet should have run forever. (Or at least longer than the eight months it got.) But since Mirvish moved up its original closing date by three weeks, now’s your only chance.

Even if you’re not Katy Perry or Justin Trudeau (though I really hope you are, and that you jam out in your seats to Perry’s hits Roar and I Kissed a Girl), catch & Juliet before it’s gone for good. You’ll leave with a newfound appreciation for Canadian theatre – and, in the case of our former prime minister, a fresh perspective on a certain someone’s oeuvre of glitter-dusted anthems.