Another Romeo & Juliet? This one with Pat Benatar's catalogue?!

Playbill Article



I loved Pat Benatar; hell, I wanted to BE Pat Benatar! But this just seems....so unneeded.

Won't there already be 2 R&J musicals next season? I realize this article isn't claiming that trajectory, but sheesh.

amiyagi said: "That was my first thought too. Why is it always R&J?? There ARE other Shakespeare plays. A lot of them could be very compelling musically. There's a Macbeth musical called Lady M in development in London that I'm very intrigued by. Someone could maybe take a stab at Othello or Much Ado."

There are Operas based on Othello and Much Ado

Pat Benatar has a truly fantastic song catalogue, which deserves better than Romeo and Juliet.

Yeah, if ONLY someone had once said to Lenny, Steve, Arthur and Hal -- "Guys, R&J have been done to death --- you need to come up with a NEW concept!"

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/theater/pat-benatar-invincible-musical.html

"Does Broadway Need Another ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Musical? Pat Benatar Says Yes.

After competing ideas and a cease-and-desist order, “Invincible — The Musical” arrives onstage. Just don’t call it a jukebox musical."

Oooooof - I caught the show this afternoon and unfortunately it is a total mess.

I went in rooting for the show to be enjoyable (I do love the music) but this show will be studied for how many ways a musical can go wrong.

The book/concept for the show itself really doesn't work. It's a mix of Shakespearean English with modern day expletives and essentially a speed-through of "Romeo and Juliet" but removing all character development. I felt really bad for the very talented actors (Kay Sibal as Juliet and Brennin Hunt as Paris in a horrendous wig were the vocal highlights) who were giving it their all but were completely let down by the creative team in all aspects. The choreography was choppy, direction very confusing, one fairly unattractive set piece and everyone was wearing bizarre costumes (some modern, some not).

Ultimately, if you're doing "Romeo and Juliet" in any form, you need the audience to understand why Romeo and Juliet love each other and there was absolutely zero attempt to do that here. The love story didn't have any story! The characters didn't have personalities!

Finally, the decision to make this a show without an intermission is clearly by design - if there were a break, most people probably wouldn't have returned for Act Two.

I'm sorry to be so harsh on any piece, but this truly felt like a waste of my time which I haven't felt in a theater in over a decade. Sadly, a big swing and a miss here.

Updated On: 12/3/22 at 08:23 PM

It wasn't as bad as the above poster makes it out to be.

It still needs work but that's what out of town tryouts are for.

I loved the new orchestrations of Benatar's songs. The leads are very strong. I liked the last 20 minutes, because the show really developed a rhythm.

The show just needs to decide what it is, a version with Shakespearean language. Or a modern or dystopian future interpretation. It's not that clear.