Another weekend, another show where the director feels the need to force modern everything into a show that doesn’t need it. This one yielded mixed results, so I’ll start with the negative to get the bad out of the way. Antonoff’s music made sense for me in the dance scene and even in the opening of act two. The ballad to end act one was unnecessary and even ridiculous. The problem is that singing is the only time Zegler comes to life. The girl should really be a pop star and leave the acting to others because she’s always playing herself. She’s talked in interviews about how she feels for Juliet because she was so young, but there was absolutely no innocence or naivety in what she did on that stage. Dorfman was also terrible. I’m honestly not sure how they book jobs. The other big problem for me was the tone. It was played like it was I Love Lucy, and everything was a joke. Because of that, the romance and deaths didn’t have any desperation, urgency or even sadness.
At the top of my list of positives was Connor. The boy really has a bright future, and it was a pleasure to see him live. Thought Pérez was also good in comic relief moments (even though we didn’t need relief because it all felt comedic). Some of the costumes were fun - like their party outfits. The set was used well, and kept everyone in the audience on their toes. They were a very lively audience - clapping for kisses, laughing like there was a sign above our heads directing them to do so, etc.
This seems like it was made for a very specific Bushwick resident in their late teens/early 20s (or one who wants to be that). I wonder if older audiences have wandered into this “Romeo and Juliet” expecting Shakespeare and left horrified that they got a queer, genderless version of “Girls.”
I do think there were good things here, and if they had a stronger Juliet, it really could’ve been special.
