Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor debut on Broadway with “Romeo + Juliet”
Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” has been told in countless settings, most not including a shopping cart full of stuffed animals. And yet, Romeo + Juliet has hit broadway, featuring Rachel Zegler, Kit Connor, and a plethora of stuffed animals on stage with them. The two young stars, 23 years old and 20 years old, respectively, made their broadway debut and put a modern twist on the classic Shakespearean tale.
Romeo + Juliet has made one message clear to the audience: “The youth are ******”. In other words, the next generation is this generation. The world that has been promised as theirs, now lies in their hands. Sam Gold, director of Romeo + Juliet, pitched the show to Zegler and Connor as a “Troye Sivan music video,” but more profoundly “a group of 20-something-year-olds who broke into the Circle in the Square on Broadway and have to get something out–get something off their chest”.
Zegler herself has experience akin to the role of Juliet: she made her big screen debut as Maria in the 2021 remake of West Side Story directed by Steven Spielburg. Though R+J is her first time in the role of Juliet herself, rather than a rendition. Zegler is a rising actress to watch out for. Her role as Maria in West Side Story launched her into the spotlight. Starring as Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes assisted in her rise to stardom. Zegler is soon to star as the titular role in the live action remake of Disney classic, Snow White, come March 2025.
Her co-star, Kit Connor, is essentially brand new to the world of Shakespeare. Connor stars as Nick Nelson in Netflix’s highly acclaimed Heartstopper, his one and only large accreditation prior to R+J. Heartstopper gave him his first Emmy, for Outstanding Lead Performance in 2022, at just 18 years old. Connor had a very minor role in a production of “Hamlet,” but Romeo has been his largest role in a Shakespearean play to date.
A copious amount of stuffed animals isn’t the only modern twist brought to this modern retelling of the two most famous star crossed lovers. According to Jimmy Fallon in his interview with Zegler and Connor there’s “vaping and a DJ.” Pictures of R+J are slowly surfacing, and the cast is dressed in normal 21st century clothes. This is not your traditional nor typical tale of Romeo and Juliet. There’s even live singing and an original score.
The man behind the music to Romeo + Juliet is none other than Jack Antonoff, a highly accomplished producer, and 11 time Grammy winner, who has worked with the likes of Taylor Swift on 2023 Grammy awarded Album of The Year, “Midnights;" Lana Del Rey on her 2020 Grammy nominated Album of the Year “Norman ****** Rockwell;” and Sabrina Carpenter on her highly anticipated, peaked-number-one-on-the-Billboard-charts album, “Short n’ Sweet” in 2024. “The whole play is scored,” said Antonoff in an interview with Jimmy Fallon on Oct. 1, “There’s, uh… We’re still in previews, we’re still messing with it, between three to five original songs that leave the play.” The entire play is done with its original 16th century dialogue with a “buzzy and low indie” score, said Antonoff. Interrupting these moments are where he said “we leave the play for a moment and the actors sing songs.”
The hope for Romeo + Juliet is to make iambic pentameter, and the often confusing language of Shakespearean plays, more palatable to modern audiences, and inspire a love of the classics in youth. It brings a modern lens to one of Shakespeare’s most iconic plays. Romeo + Juliet has a 20 week run, from Sept. 26, 2024, to Feb. 16, 2025, at the Circle in Square Theater in Midtown Manhattan.
