& Juliet is a delightful, riotous show that takes the ending of Romeo and Juliet and asks, ‘what if Juliet didn’t kill herself? What if she lived on..?’ The show is full of class hits penned by Maz Martin, Swedish record producer and songwriter, and what a backlist of hits he has!

One of those hits is Katy Perry’s Roar and I was lucky to be invited to take part in a dance class to learn (just a smidgen) of that dance. The class was brilliant; led by Andilé Mabhena (who plays Augustine, swing, is a member of the dance team and 1^st cover Francois) and Michael Nelson (who plays Henry, 1^st cover Shakespeare and Lance). Their patience and sheer dance ability was so impressive, and it really gave us an insight into the show and how incredibly difficult the choreography must be to learn. We only learned a few bars and I was exhausted! At the end of the class, they showed us how it should be done, and it was a delight to then see that replicated in the show.

I am a bit of a stickler for Shakespeare, I adore his plays and the impact that they still have to this day, so I had slight trepidation about & Juliet. I must say though, from the opening bars of Larger than Life, I was absolutely hooked. We are met with a stage preparing for a performance of the just finished, Romeo and Juliet, with the players still painting the set and adding pieces of set. Shakespeare reveals the ending of the show, the death of the star-crossed lovers, but Anne Hathaway intervenes and takes us, instead, on an altogether different path, one where Juliet decides to live and finds her own destiny in Paris. I adored the ‘play within a play’ aspect of this, very reminiscent of Shakespeare’s other productions. The constant asides and breaking of the fourth wall are immersive and shows us Anne and Will shaping the show in real time. Their arguments and plot changes are shown to us in real time, and the consequences of two very different opinions on how the show should play out, in turn affect and move the characters on stage.

It would be easy for this to be a complete pastiche of Romeo and Juliet and to disrespect the original source, but it manages to perfectly balance the modern day whilst being entirely respectful to Shakespeare and his incredible genius. It was also nice to see an interpretation of Anne’s story and her feelings on him never being there with her and their two daughters. There’s a momentary reference to loss of son, Hamnet, and the ‘second best bed’ is mentioned a few times! All in all, there’s enough nods to the originator to be respectful but to also bring the plot straight into the 21^st century.

Cast and ensemble are phenomenal; the sheer energy and skill of the chorus is mind blowing! Non-stop, high octane and just full of joy, it’s definitely a sight to behold. The cast does have its star casting in Jay McGuiness from The Wanted and Dr. Ranj Singh as Lance. Jay McGuiness was a cheeky, delightful Shakespeare and obviously has the pipes for the pop soundtrack! Dr. Ranj was an hilarious Lance; he more than held his own amongst the cast despite this being his debut in a musical theatre production. I was impressed with his singing and his involvement in Strictly Come Dancing clearly paid off too!

Recent graduate, Geradine Sacdalan leads the cast as Juliet, her dancing and singing prowess would suggest years of being the leading lady, her performance is assured and confident. I also adored Lara Denning as Anne, her rendition of That’s the Way It Is was breathtaking, her portrayal of Anne in turns hilarious and heartbreaking. Sandra Marvin as Angelique, Juliet’s nurse, manages to capture the essence of the Nurse in the original play whilst making her a fully fledged character with her own identity and voice (and what a powerhouse voice it is!). Her scenes with Lance were brilliant, especially their fabulous rendition of Teenage Dream/Break Free.

Jordan Broatch is a wonderful May, Juliet’s friend and confidante. May is the perfect character to be in a show based on an original Shakespeare play when you consider how often his plays contained characters who subverted gender norms. The quote from Anne perfectly sums this up, “Really? This from a man who’s built a career on men dressing as women, women dressing as men; the man whose name is synonymous with gender-bending. Do you really think it’s up to you to question May’s gender or sexual preference, or do you think maybe it’s May’s personal choice and really none of our business?” Jordan’s performance is so endearing, and they portray May’s struggle perfectly. Their scenes with Kyle Cox as François are beautiful, both performers truly capture the essence of the burgeoning romance with ease. Kyle is a suitably awkward François, blossoming from shy youngest son of Lance to claiming his place beside May.  Finally, Benjamin Jackson Walker as Romeo is comedy gold; his return from death is iconic with him descending on his own name and although this show is all about Juliet, I would have loved a bit more stage time from this hilarious performer with a great voice to boot!

Don’t ‘get thee to a nunnery,’ get yourselves to the Wales Millennium Centre and make sure you catch & Juliet’s final tour stop. It’s joyous energy, phenomenal vocals and brilliant cast really deserve to go out with a bang at their final location of their tour. Matched with themes of empowerment, no matter what or who you are, this is a must-see production, so don’t miss out, grab yourself a ticket to & Juliet today.

It was a privilege to be among some of the first visitors to attend a production at the newly refurbished Theatr Clwyd. Having been lucky enough to attend a tour during its reconstruction it is wonderful to see the (almost) completed work in all its glory. With substantial backing from the Welsh Government, Arts Council of Wales and Flintshire County Council and under the leadership of Executive Director Liam Evans-Ford and newly appointed Artistic Director Kate Wasserberg, the theatre is working with acclaimed architects Haworth Tompkins to complete the redevelopment.

The largest ever private gift to an arts institution in Wales came from The Moondance Foundation with a gift of £1.5m, hence the newly refurbished auditorium (formerly the Anthony Hopkins Theatre) being named the Moondance Theatre. And so, is it purely coincidence that the first production to grace the stage following the theatre’s reopening is Tick, Tick…BOOM!? A semi-autobiographical piece written by RENT writer Jonathan Larson and featuring the diner he worked at whilst attempting to carve out a living as a composer in 1990s New York. The name of that diner? The Moondance!

Tick, Tick…BOOM! follows Jon, a struggling composer in New York City, approaching his 30th birthday. He’s anxiously waiting for his ‘big break’ while wrestling with doubts about his career in musical theatre. As the clock ticks, Jon navigates pressure from his girlfriend Susan, who wants to move out of the city and start a family, and his best friend Michael, who’s abandoned acting for a lucrative corporate job in marketing. The story explores many themes which are also recurrent throughout Larson’s groundbreaking musical RENT– mortality (including the AIDS crisis prominent in New York in the 90s), artistic expression, love and relationships. We are also consistently reminded of RENT throughout Tick, Tick…BOOM!’s music- weaved into harmonies, recognisable chords and comparable melodies, all these a poignant reflection on Larson’s own life and aspirations. Tragically, Larson passed away from an aortic aneurysm on January 25, 1996, at the age of 35, just hours before the first public preview performance of RENT.

The UK premiere of Tick, Tick…BOOM! took place at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London in 2005, featuring Neil Patrick Harris as Jon, and has since only been performed a handful of times in this country. However, the musical was brought to the public’s attention again in 2021 in a film directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and starring Andrew Garfield as Jon.

This production is placed in the hands of three performers, who not only play the main roles but also a plethora of minor roles throughout the show. Ryan Owen, Christina Modestou and Tarik Frimpong do this with equal amounts of talent, professionalism and ease that we feel completely relaxed in their presence for the duration. We hear three voices, but it sounds like thirty, we know Modestou is not only Susan but also Jon’s agent, Rosa (whom Friends fans cannot fail to compare to Joey’s hilariously memorable agent Estelle!), and yet we see two completely different people.

Having seen Owen in the comedy role of Glennie the Goose in Theatr Clwyd’s rock ‘n’ roll panto Mother Goose at Christmas, it is hard to believe this is the same guy! The role is worlds away from the amusing antics of a farmyard animal and demands guts, passion, incredibly strong vocals and the command to carry the piece. Owen did this with great aplomb, particularly during the almost five-minute long Why, a composition which journeys through all seasons of emotions! Christina Modestou shines as Susan. We empathise with her plight for a more peaceful, stable life and although willing her relationship with Jon to work out, we can’t help but understand the decisions she makes. Ironically, Modestou’s stand-out moment comes, not as Susan, but as Karessa, a performer taking part in Jon’s workshops for a musical he’s been working on called Superbia. During a public performance of these workshops, we hear Come to your Senses, a stunning ballad performed beautifully by Modestou, demanding an audience ovation! Similarly, the role of Michael is wonderfully portrayed by Tarik Frimpong with just the right amount of strength and fragility. There are so many wonderful moments between these characters- most notably Jon and Michael’s rocky duet No More in which they dream of the life with ‘no more faulty wiring, no more leaky ceilings and no more taking a shower in the kitchen’! and the ‘phone call fight’ (Therapy), a humorous take on a nonsensical argument between Jon and Sue (beginning with the lyrics ‘I feel bad, that you feel bad, about me feeling bad, about you feeling bad, about what I said, about what you said’…we can all relate!) The choreography for this is inspired- utilising telephone wires as props which eventually end up tangled as the argument escalates- a perfect reflection on the tangles we often find ourselves in at various stages in our relationships!

There are several clever set and design elements which stand out- the brilliant use of the revolving stage, symbolising the ‘treadmill of life’ which these characters find themselves on, as well as its practical use, for example to show physical journeys and to remove stage props and set. I love the use of the umbrellas during Sunday, during which Jon satirises brunch at the diner taking inspiration from one of his favourite musicals Sunday in the Park with George written by his idol Stephen Sondheim. And the way in which this scene transitions into a scene set in a car is pure genius (I won’t give the secret away!)

The costumes are perfect for the era, even the diner uniforms are wonderfully replicated, and the show is not afraid to be ‘a show’, using the crew in their Tick, Tick…BOOM! polos to move set and props when necessary. And I always enjoy being able to see the band- this time positioned above the action and even taking part in various scenes with blasts of dialogue!

Tick, Tick…BOOM! is the perfect piece to christen the reopening of this wonderful theatre. With a small yet stellar cast, themes of creation, performance and new beginnings and plenty of passion and emotion, I could not fault this production and am thrilled to have been privy to its beginnings as well as that of this new chapter for Theatr Clwyd.

Theatr Clwyd, Mold

Tuesday 10^th– Saturday 28^th June, 2025

Cast

• Jon – Ryan Owen
• Susan – Christina Modestou
• Michael – Tarik Frimpong

Creative Team

• Writer – Jonathan Larson (Book, Music & Lyrics)
• Director – Kate Wasserberg
• Musical Supervisor and Musical Director – Bob Broad
• Assistant Director– Dena Davies
• Casting Director– Polly Jerrold
• Voice and Dialect Coach– Aundrea Fudge
• Lighting Designer – Katy Morison
• Costume and Set Designer – Amy Jane Cook
• Choreographer – Lucy Cullingford
• Sound Designer – Andrew Johnson
• Wellbeing Facilitator– Hester Evans
• Producer– Wes Bennett-Pearce
• Company Stage Manager– Elizabeth O’Sullivan
• Deputy Stage Manager– Edward Salt
• Assistant Stage Manager– Emma Hardwick
• Drums– Richard Burden
• Guitar– Maria Rocha
• Bass– Olly Buxton

Running time: Approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes (no interval)

The Wales Millennium Centre is really getting the ‘Razzle Dazzle’ treatment with Chicago: The Musical storming onto the stage on its latest tour. Based on the 1926 play, of the same name, by Maurine Dallas Watkins, the musical is well known for its sexy, satirical take on the criminal justice system of 1920s America and the influencers of the day, the murderesses of Cook County Jail. The show opens with a single hat upon a chair and the mantra; “Murder, greed, corruption, exploitation, adultery and treachery…all those things we hold near and dear to our hearts.” This sets the stage for all that Chicago stands for and will deliver across the Fosse, Kander and Ebb penned musical.

Velma welcomes us to the show with ‘All That Jazz,’ interspersed with the action of Roxie murdering her lover, Fred Casely, as he attempts to break off the affair that has been going on right under the nose of her husband, Amos. The action quickly moves to the Cook County Jail where we meet Matron ‘Mama’ Morton and the inmates of the jail. They are the ‘celebrities’ of the day with each of them clamouring for press coverage and interviews and all of them desperate to work with smooth talking lawyer, Billy Flynn. The treacherous, fantastical events that unfold as the show progresses are complemented by some of the most well-known songs in musical theatre and the iconic, stylish dance moves that truly epitomise this as a Kander, Ebb and Fosse production.

Chicago always has a minimal set with chairs lining stage right and stage left for the performers to reside upon until they are called to the front of the stage. This iteration, however, includes the band front and centre with a huge band stand right in the middle of the stage, with steps and levels that the performers utilise to great effect, appearing and descending the stairs to the stage, even involving the conductor in the action. This change really brings the band into the centre of the action, and, after all, Chicago is all about the jazz at the centre of its story. The band become performers too; I particularly enjoyed the opening of Act II where they really stole the show during the entr’acte. The well-known music of the show really comes to life with this excellent band, musically directed by Neil Macdonald.

The dancing of the show is, of course, iconic and it is faithfully recreated here by choreographer Gary Chryst with direction recreated by Tânia Nardini. The ensemble is excellent; their synchronicity and execution of this classic choreography is flawless. They also multi-role and change roles mid scene seamlessly. The iconic sequences are recreated with poise and precision; the ‘puppetry’ in ‘We Both Reached for the Gun’ is particularly enjoyable as is the recreation of the original choreography by Bob Fosse in ‘Hot Honey Rag.’ ‘Cell Block Tango’ is also a standout moment in the show, brilliant vocals here perfectly complemented by fantastic choreography.

The production is cast well but I must particularly mention Brenda Edwards as Mama Morton. Her long-standing association with the role, (in fact the Mama Morton was her West End debut in 2006) is so evident. She is poise personified as she performs ‘When You’re Good to Mama;’ her vocals and confident portrayal here is a joy to watch, she truly owns the stage. I also particularly enjoyed Velma, played by Djalenga Scott. All three disciplines exceptionally executed, her opening of ‘All That Jazz’ truly shows off her abilities to the fullest. I loved the Velma and Mama duet, ‘Class,’ a quieter moment of the show in amongst all the madcap action, but there are some gorgeous harmonies here. Mister Cellophane himself, Amos Hart is brought to life before us by the talented Joshua Lloyd. He is hapless, yet loveable and ‘Mister Cellophane’ is performed to perfection. A special mention too to Jordan Lee Davies, as Mary Sunshine. His vocals in ‘A Little Bit of Good’ are insane, an impressive, assured performance and a fantastically funny reveal towards the end of the show!

Chicago is a sexy, stylish, fantastical, dark but often hilarious musical with just the right amount of drama mixed in with that well needed element of escapism. With a hugely talented cast and ensemble, songs that will have you tapping your feet and dance sequences that will make you want to jump up in the aisles and join in, it’s a fantastic night out that will high kick into your memory, sprinkle some ‘razzle dazzle’ and stay there for a long time.

(5 / 5)

‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is a musical about a high school senior who suffers from social anxiety, who fabricates a friendship with outcast, Connor Murphy, to achieve connection and popularity, after Connor commits suicide. Evan’s lie ends up out of control and leads to severe consequences; Evan becoming a symbol of Connor’s legacy, causing a chain reaction on his own life.

The set pretty much stays the same, yet creates life throughout the story like moving doors, on and off bedrooms and optical trees. Simple but effective!

Last, but definitely not least, the cast! Here are my favourites…
Tom Dickerson as Jared Kleinman, gave us the right amount of comedy to mix in with the show and gave us all a laugh. Killian Thomas Lefevre was fantastic as Connor Murphy. Even though Connor didn’t have much stage time, Killian honestly did not let that stop him, with lots of aggression but some softness. He showed us that Connor Murphy was sarcastic and rude but yet soft towards Evan on his last day. I must say Evan Hansen himself, played by Ryan Kopel, was absolutely brilliant. He showed everything Evan needed to be, anxious to tender and even showing the side of him that has outbursts.

Overall the show was honestly one of the best I’ve seen, it had everything it needed and it was everything it needed it to be, so stop ‘tapping on the glass’ and get yourself tickets for ‘Dear Evan Hansen.’