& Juliet Opens In Fort Myers And It’s Brilliant

Curtains are up on a new Broadway show in Southwest Florida and here is why you need to grab tickets. The show & Juliet opens in Fort Myers at Barbara B Mann Performing Arts Hall and it is brilliant.

The show is a so-called jukebox musical, meaning the music is not from an original score. It is pop music. Songs you know and love are used to tell the story. However, many of the songs are interpreted and arranged differently.

In the musical & Juliet, songs you might know include "Oops...I Did It Again" by Britney Spears, "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi, Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" and lots of boy band songs. The music is familiar and fun.

Next, the plot. Everyone knows the tragic tale of William Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet. It's the tale of star-crossed lovers from feuding families. Short and sweet, Juliet takes a sleeping potion. Thinking she is dead and not wanting to live without her, Romeo swallows poison and dies. Juliet wakes up to find her love dead and plunges his dagger into her heart to join him.

In this play, Shakespear's wife, Anne Hathaway, suggests a different ending. What would happen if Juliet did not take her own life but instead lived and forged a new destiny. What if she found life after Romeo?

The tale takes many twists and turns, some edgy, as Shakespear and Hathaway debate and create a possible new story line.

There are love triangles, heartaches, and lots of laughs. In the end, love prevails and the audience joins the cast in a dance party. The actors were outstanding, the music fun, the story engaging and it was a fantastic way to escape from reality for 2 1/2 hours.

I attended opening night as part of the media and got some cool swag to take home. The show runs through February 8th and I can't recommend it enough. But tickets today. You wont be sorry.