Kit Connor, Rachel Zegler delight in Shakespeare play

Any theatergoers stepping into The Circle in the Square Theater expecting to witness a run-of-the-mill version of William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet need only gaze upon the production’s pre-show performance to understand that Verona looks a little different these days. For starters, there’s a shopping cart filled with teddy bears parked upon its stage, and as the cast trickles into the theater, they make themselves comfortable by lounging on inflatable furniture, vaping, and grinding on one another with reckless abandon. If anything, it looks more like attendees have accidentally stumbled upon a high school party straight out of Euphoria — not one of the most-talked about shows on Broadway. 

But this is Romeo + Juliet (Sam Gold’s version): a glittering, queer, Gen Z take on Shakespeare’s play that is wonderfully wild, visually stunning, and unabashedly horny. The stellar production — which sees many of its cast, including its two leads, making their Broadway debut — succeeds in threading the needle between two nearly impossible tasks that come with putting on Romeo + Juliet: retaining the play’s original language and message while simultaneously putting one’s own stamp on the material, and, perhaps most importantly, making a more than 420-year-old play both accessible and enticing for the teens it is representing onstage. And, if the large crowds that swarm its stage door each night weren’t enough of an indicator, they’ve absolutely nailed it. 

For anyone who wasn’t required to read Romeo + Juliet in high school, and somehow managed to avoid its many film and theatrical adaptations over the years like the Tony award-winning musical West Side Story, the play follows its titular leads (played by Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler) as they fall head-over-heels for one another despite being from rival houses. As their affections grow more passionate, so do the flames of hatred between their respective families, sending the couple careening down an increasingly deadly path.

While the story remains the same, Gold (who won a Tony award for his direction of Fun Home and is fresh off of An Enemy of the People in this same theater space) and the entire Romeo + Juliet creative team have clearly approached the material with a hyper-specific vision that sets their adaptation apart from previous iterations. Its neon-drenched, Brat Summer-adjacent aesthetic is reflected in every single detail in the production, from the scuzzy, pulsating club beats that underscore each scene to its Barbie-esque dance sequence where Romeo (Connor) locks eyes with Juliet (Zegler) underneath the shimmering club lights for the first time. 

Connor, best known for starring in Netflix’s coming-of-age drama Heartstopper, delivers a star-making performance as the endlessly charming Romeo, imbuing the teen with what can only be described as golden retriever energy. He uses the entirety of Circle in the Square’s interactive theater design as his personal playground, bounding up its staircases and pulling surprised audience members into hugs as he gleefully waxes poetic about his newfound crush, Juliet. But what truly sells his performance is his commitment to leaning into the otherworldly highs and calamitous lows of Romeo’s hormonal mood swings, which see Connor shouting his affection from the proverbial rooftops one moment and then dramatically declaring that he’d rather die than live without love the next.

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Zegler, who previously played Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, is equally as impressive as Juliet. She brings a confidence to the character, who is only 14 years old, as she navigates the familial politics surrounding her and her future marriage to a wealthy suitor. The only thing that Juliet doesn’t have experience with is love, and Zegler fully capitalizes on that newfound rush of nerves and excitement as she delivers lovestruck monologues from atop a floating platform. While Romeo often gets the chance to gush over his crush with his pals Benvolio (Taheen Modak) and Mercutio (the fantastic Gabby Beans), Juliet is primarily confined to her room throughout the play, which make her pajama-clad daydreams feel even more like a relatable, coming-of-age experience.

Bring Zegler and Connor together onstage and their chemistry is undeniable. The pair are always in each other’s orbit, choreographed by Sonya Tayeh, exchanging flirtatious banter and doing anything they can to get closer to one another. That includes during the play’s famous balcony scene, where Connor’s Romeo breaks tradition and leaps onto Juliet’s balcony. He hangs there for a surprisingly long time before Romeo’s emotions get the best of him and he performs a pull-up in order to kiss her (the move has, of course, gone viral on TikTok). 

The play also sees several of its cast members performing double and even triple duty across its more than two hour runtime, with Beans starring as Friar Larwence and Mercutio, the stellar Tommy Dorfman as Tybalt and Juliet’s nurse, and the phenomenal Sola Fadiran as both of Juliet’s parents. These changes are often highlighted through their clothing, designed by Enver Chakartash, but, in one hilarious circumstance, Beans made a point of clarifying her current character by declaring in a deadpan tone: “I’m Mercutio now.” 

NYC design collective dots brings the story to life in vibrant detail, transforming the stage from a sleek dancefloor into a field of wildflowers. The cast, in turn, utilizes each and every square inch of the theater, engaging in fierce brawls onstage and climbing into its blacklight-lit rafters for a post-party debrief. They also situate Romeo and Juliet above two exit doors on opposite sides of the stage, physically keeping them apart for as long as possible to make when they crash into each other that much sweeter. The distance between them is also highlighted in the show’s lighting, designed by Isabella Byrd, which bathes Romeo in soft blue colors and Juliet a gentle pink. 

While the production is truly a visual feast, there are a few moments where Romeo + Juliet stumbles, the biggest one being that there are several scenes where having the same actor play two roles feels jarring. The clearest example is when Juliet’s mother, played by Fadiran, comes in to celebrate her daughter’s marriage to Paris (Gían Pérez), only to rush back onto the stage moments later as her father and threaten to oust Juliet from the family if she doesn’t agree to the wedding. While Fadiran does a solid job of playing these characters differently — there’s no doubt which role he is portraying — it still feels questionable and pulls viewers out of the drama of the scene.

The play also features music by Jack Antonoff, including two songs that could removed without ruining the overall plot. The song “Man of the House,” while a wonderful showcase of Zegler’s dazzling vocal skills, doesn’t give much more insight to the developing crisis between Romeo and Juliet that isn’t already explored in the subsequent act.

It’s abundantly clear that Shakespeare purists expecting this production to be a timeless tale filled with medieval garb and banquets will find themselves up in arms over Romeo + Juliet’s bold choices. But the visceral, teary-eyed reactions that several young audience members in the crowd had during the play is proof enough of how influential it will be for a brand new generation of theatergoers. To quote Perez: “Thank you, William Shakespeare!” Mic drop. Grade: B+