Thoughts, prayers and No Fear Shakespeares for X’s bigoted troll community today, who—mere days after finding out that Romeo and Juliet is neither based in fact nor written by Baz Luhrmann—have another bitter pill to swallow: not only will Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers tread the boards in the “The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy” come May, but Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler are heading to Broadway in a Sam Gold-directed adaptation of Romeo and Juliet at an undisclosed point this fall.
Even more concerning news for those well-balanced individuals worried about said Shakespeare production’s egregious “rewriting of history”: Grammy winner Jack Antonoff—who didn’t even work on the 1597 premiere!—has signed on to compose original music for the production. (How to break the news that Bottom wasn’t really turned into a half-donkey to these people?)
But back to other, more broadly depressing things, like the state of American politics: Gold, who’s previously lent his Tony-winning touch to renditions of Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, says his staging has been inspired by “the presidential election coming up in November.” “I felt like making a show this fall that celebrates youth and hope, and unleashes the anger young people feel about the world they are inheriting.”
The synopsis does indeed smell like TikTok-addled, two-degree-warming-triggered teen spirit: “The youth are fucked. Left to their own devices in their parents’ world of violent ends, an impulsive pair of star-crossed lovers hurtle towards their inescapable fate. The intoxicating high of passion quickly descends into a brutal chaos that can only end one way.” If that all sounds a bit much, there will also be movement courtesy of Sonya Tayeh, who scooped a Tony for her choreography in The Immortal Baz’s Moulin Rouge, so there should be at least a touch of “Till the World Ends” to the play, too.
Zegler—who, of course, got her break as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story—and Connor, the heartbeat of Heartstopper, teased the announcement yesterday on Instagram with the letters R & J set against a teddy bear-backdrop (CC: Prince Andrew) with their location tagged as Verona. Now, you can officially register for early access to ticket releases, although, if the email sign-up’s header of “Sweet Sorrow Awaits” doesn’t give you even a moment’s pause, maybe that’s something to unpack with a therapist.