Joey Fatone in “& Juliet”

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& Juliet:  that rare jukebox musical that plays like a greatest hits album and a brand new story at once. Truly in sync with the Audience! Thru August 2nd at The Auditorium - Review By: Paul Lisnek

****/4

& Juliet is that rare jukebox musical that plays like a greatest hits album and a brand new story at once. Truly in sync with the Audience!

Joey Fatone’s stint in & Juliet’s Chicago engagement turns an already exciting glitzy jukebox musical into a millennial fever dream with a wink and nod to the audience. It’s equal parts pop concert, fun theater, and fan-service – in the very best sense.

Playing as part of Broadway in Chicago’s season in Chicago just a couple of years ago, & Juliet remains a glossy, high energy reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy in which Juliet doesn’t die for Romeo but instead gets a second act of her own. The story moves through grand hits from the 90s and 2000s primarily the pop hits from Max Martin’s catalog – “Baby One More Time,” “Roar,” “Since U Been Gone,” “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” and so much more. 

Sound-wise, the mix at the Auditorium favors concert feel over standard Broadway, but it fits the material; when a Max Martin song is backed by a live band and a wall of voices, you can’t help but to sit and grin. For a Chicago audience which gets both Shakespeare and Lollapalooza, the mix of text and thump feels tailor made and right at home.

The touring production’s Chicago return arrives this time at the Auditorium Theatre whose immense size gives the show’s scale plenty of room to breathe. The glitter, LED and confetti all bring high power impact that keeps the audience’s energy high. From the moment the actors take the stage, they break the fourth wall to let the audience know that they are in the party section….we immediately know that we are in for a story told on a backdrop of great fun. The book’s self-aware humor – Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway literally rewriting the plot’s ending in real time as they face their own marital tensions – lands as sharply as ever.

Joey Fatone (who joined me for an interview you can watch at www.CurtainCallChicago.com), steps into the role of Lance, a boy band member legend who these days serves to give an older audience generation a stake in this remix of Verona. On paper, a stunt of casting a boy band alum in a pop jukebox musical sounds too cute by half. But in the room, it’s incredibly satisfying; Fatone clearly gets that he’s both playing a character (interestingly named Lance, but not intended as a nod to Lance Bass) but also playing THE “Joey Fatone” at least in the audience’s imagination at the same time.

Vocally, Fatone is comfortable in the material, leaning into his warm lower register rather than trying to out belt his notably younger castmates. What really pops is his comedic timing: we see the confidence of someone who spent decades bantering with arena crowds, and he uses that easy connection to land punchlines that might feel tossed off in less experienced hands. Even his much discussed “dubious French accent” – which risked becoming a running gag at his expense, instead becomes part of his charm: he lets us in on the joke, we laugh with him, not at him.

The cast clearly knows that Fatone is a key draw on this tour. His mere entry onto the stage, and his moment in the show as a former boy band member is met with a resounding ovation by the audience. Yes, this number is in the original production, but when you add Fatone to the mix, it raises the moment to an incredible height. Joey can still dance, but honestly, he lets a bit of dad dancing bleed through in just the right moments. He understands that he is now of an older generation.

So, is Joey Fatone worth the hype? If you’ve seen & Juliet without him, you’re not getting a fundamentally different show; what you are getting is a delightful bonus and an extra layer of nostalgia and the feeling that, for this particular run, the boy band kid you loved when you grew up has dropped into Juliet’s universe to play along, have some fun, and provide a huge boost of energy.

Bottom line: when Fatone steps into a number, the energy in the house spikes with an audible wave of recognition from the 90s kids in the audience – but the focus never leans so far towards him that it derails Juliet’s story. It just works. Under the tour’s restaging, & Juliet is the perfect idea for a summer night downtown…..& Juliet, Joey Fatone and the setting of the historic Auditorium Theatre together, deliver big time….and then some!

Through August 2nd at the Auditorium Theatre. Tickets at: www.BroadwayinChicago.com