& Juliet is a Broadway musical that tells the story of what could have happened if Juliet had not died in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The musical follows Juliet on a journey of self-discovery in this coming-of-age tale that reminds us that there is more to life than romance. & Juliet is a fun, fresh take on a classic story, featuring a score of pop songs from the past and present, including hits by Jessie J, Britney Spears, and Backstreet Boys. & Juliet is a heartwarming and empowering story of love, loss, and hope, and it will leave you wanting more. To get group tickets for & Juliet, visit Broadway Inbound.com. Broadway Inbound is an official distributor of Broadway group tickets, ready to answer any of your inquiries 24/7.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
Okay, I mean as you can see, I'm already rocking out over here, so please welcome Betsy Wolf back. Betsy, thank you for joining us.
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
I'm so happy to be here.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
All right, so, I mean, a lot of people are already familiar with the story of Romeo and Juliet. How is this version of the story different from the usual Shakespearean tragedy most people are used to?
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
So yeah, and even from that preview that you just saw, it's like “What is this show about”?
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
Right!
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
You hear Katy Perry's song, you hear Since You've Been Gone, you hear Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and you're like, “How do these go together?” And that is why one day I first read the script, last year. It's the most magical combo. The idea that this music goes with this story is 100% why I had to do this show because it makes complete sense when you see it. It is so impossible to describe. The only thing the audience needs to know when they go into it is what happens in Romeo and Juliet, right? Juliet wakes up. She sees Romeo dead. She kills herself. Guess what? That's not the end of our show. It's the beginning of the show that takes everyone off guard, and William Shakespeare shows up at the theater that night. He's presenting his new show, Romeo and Juliet, to his players, his wife, Anne Hathaway shows up, and she has this idea that what if Juliet didn't kill herself? And from there, it just begins this, like, amazingly fun meaningful journey of what it looks like if she chooses life and what that looks like, and that's all you need to know. I know that Shakespeare consumption like really intimidating, but you don't have to necessarily understand it or be a fan. Yeah, it's just joyous.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
Perhaps it makes Shakespeare more inviting.
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
Oh my gosh!
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
More digestible.
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
So many people say, “I don't love going to see Shakespeare. I feel like it's a little intimidating. I don't understand it.” It's all told this whole show is modern-day speak. And in fact, if you've seen Schitt's Creek - our writer actually wrote that and was executive producer, and so it's hilarious. Of course, we have some, you know, famous Shakespeare puns in there for you but it's hysterical, and you don't have to be a fan of Shakespeare or understand it to come and just totally be surprised by our show.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
Noted, so this is for the masses. Nobody feels intimidated.
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
Yes, and think about it, like, Shakespeare wrote for the masses. And then I think why the show works is Max Martin who wrote all of the music for the show. I say “Max Martin” and most people will not know who that is. But what's interesting about Max is you cannot listen to the radio… I dare you, I challenge you to go anywhere and listen to music, and try and get away with not having at least one out of like four or five songs be a Max Martin hit. And not just a hit, like, a number-one hit. This man has written more number-one hits than any artist in this century: for Katy Perry, Celine Dion, Backstreet Boys, Ariana Grande. So every single song in the show you are going to know and you're going to love. It's not gonna necessarily be done in the way that you're expecting it. And yet all the while it actually does tell the story of our show. I think that's why it's so special. I think that's one of the reasons why for me it's so special. I've seen so many jukebox musicals and I've been a part of them before, and sometimes you have to, like, drink the Kool-Aid and say, “Okay, this is that song and now let's move on back to the story”, but it's almost as if these songs were written for the show which sounds insane but it's genuinely that seamlessly integrated.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
Now, I don't know which question I want to ask you now.
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
Oh, sorry! (laughs)
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
No, there're just so many from everything you've just said, so I guess let's move back because you were talking about Max Martin. So this creative team behind & Juliet is just incredible. What was it like working with them on the North American premiere of this new musical?
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
Well, it's thrilling. I mean, I'm sitting here and I'm listening to the incredible cast members of Strange Loop, and Mark and Carrie talking about Beetlejuice, and I think what's so exciting is the world knows what that is right now, that we know how exciting those shows are. And London knows how exciting & Juliet is, but only Toronto so far knows kind of how special this is and, like, they're talking about their shows and how the audiences, just are like leaping to their feet and identifying with themselves and seeing themselves in the show. And I'm just, like, buzzing with excitement because I see that in Toronto, and so I know it's about to happen. I know people are going to get to be on the beginning of that Journey for this show. And this creative team loves what they do. I mean Max Martin has been in the studio with, again, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Celine Dion not just writing their hits, but, I mean, they're biggest hits, and so the fact that he was just always around, hanging out and just like talking and making sure that we, you know, we're just like really understanding the musicality of it all, and it's kind of amazing that they always just wanted to be around because they love it and they believe so passionately in the story, too. So, you know, they're just creative geniuses, and if you have not seen Schitt's Creek…
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
You should.
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
…you'll get a favor for our show. The show is hysterical from the moment it starts.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
That was one of my pandemic binges. Like I can't believe I'm so late to the game.
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
Yes, well, congratulations, you are now caught up and that is that essence is so much a part of our show. The show is witty, it's hilarious, but it will also just really ping you when you are at least expecting it, and I think that's what's really really cool.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
And when can those looking forward to it see & Juliet on Broadway?
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
So we close in Toronto this week, which is insane to me because we've already been here six weeks and there is not a ticket to be had. It's one of those shows hard to describe and it's so hard for people to understand. I really believe it's one of those word-of-mouth shows which is why I get DMs from people every day saying “This is my 5th time, this is my 6th time. It's my 37th time”. We've only been here six weeks. and the reason for that is just because people… It's hard to explain what happens to you in the show, but there're the audiences leap to their feet before the end of the show even happens, and I get messages that are like “I had to bring someone else to the show to experience what I felt”. And, like, that is just like the medicine that I need right now. It's the medicine that I think everyone needs right now. So, when we come? I know there're tickets now and when we come in August, excuse me, October 28th is our very first preview, and we open. I'm so excited but I also know, like, once this starts to once it does its thing, and I'm sure, like, the Beetlejuice people can attest to it. It's like once the word of mouth starts to spread, I just genuinely think it's gonna be a little bit harder to just get in, so I feel like… people have such an opportunity now to be at the start of, like, a really really kind of the next big thing, and it's really really exciting.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
And other than an incredible catalog of songs in the show, like which people could just go for straight for that, how does it help tell this new side of Juliet's story?
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
Oh my gosh. Well, like I said, it feels like those songs were written for the show, but what I think is really really cool about our show is first of all a leading woman that comes in and decides to write her new story. Our show… You're going to see, genuinely, one of the most diverse casts in every single way, shape, and form on that stage. And there are multiple stories that are being told. It feels like you're almost at a rock-pop concert. You have everything that you would want. You have the glitter, the pyrotechnics, you leave feeling like you've seen a huge amazing show, but I think what stands out for me and what the songs also do, and the familiarity of the songs, and them being told in a way that you don't expect them, is that there's actually, like, emotional transcendence that only this show and that only kind of live theater brings. So it's different than almost hearing them on the radio. And our show celebrates that, and we see Juliet along with the help of William's wife who kind of comes in, rewrites the show a little bit maybe to more what she thinks would be appropriate. We see her getting to... She was hope over adversity and chose life, and just chose something new for herself and rewriting the story, and I think finding joy in the unknown which is like what we are all doing right now. We don't know what's going to happen. We don't have it all figured out but there's something magical about being in the theater for the story that makes us know that we're gonna be okay, we're gonna figure this out, and like that is just what people leave with. And I love it because I get to play, you know, we get to have the play within the play.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
Yes!
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
William Shakespeare so brilliantly does so often, so I get a chance, you know, William Shakespeare, and I get a chance to really, like, look out in the audience and kind of talk to them and I am astounded by, like, all the different ages that I see. I mean millennials, just baby boomers, like truly all different ages by the end. They're just like… people are nearly crying, people are jumping to their feet. I see men in their 70s, like, jumping to their feet and like “We got you two. That's right.” And there's something so cool about that. They're like, “Yeah, I don't know this song. I've heard it but, like, I don't know it.” But there's something that it's… I know that a lot of people say like the show’s for everyone and like I know that that's a great talking point. But when I physically can look out and see we have 2,000 seats in Toronto, and it's sold out every night, it's insane! And so when I can look out and actually just see this beautiful diverse group of humans, and they're all just like collectively experiencing this experience together. It's like that's why my job is, so it's so hard and it's so easy at the same time. Like I love it. It's just it's like, of course, I get to do that, you know, every night.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
Last question. What's your favorite song from the show?
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
No, it's like choosing like a favorite kid or something. It changes. I mean it changes every night.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
What is it currently?
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
Currently? Okay. It might actually… so Max Martin actually wrote one new song for the show, and right now my favorite song is this song that Jessie J recorded. Oh, of course, he writes for Jessie J to Taylor Swift. But right now one of my favorite songs is the new song. It's called One More Try. And then, you know, probably a second one would be a song called Problem. And mainly not just because I love this song but because… How you know… Julie, you got it. You got to see it. You just got to see it. It's why people see this show 30 times. It's just that people who don't even see Broadway shows. We have so many people who have, like, never seen a Broadway show before, like, this was the perfect show to introduce my daughter to or this was the one I brought my kids to this. It's just great. Yeah, and so excited that no one really knows what it is yet. I feel like we're all like about to witness something really special.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
Oh my gosh, well, thank you so much for joining us today, Betsy.
Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway, & Juliet)
Thank you.
Chanelle Cotton (Broadway Inbound)
And if you are ready to whoa head over to www.broadwayinbound.com to can get your tickets to see & Juliet today.
So thank you again everybody, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.