& Juliet Asks Tampa Bay to Please Stop Killing the Women
by Avery Anderson
Tampa Bay knows a thing or two about reinvention. Old piers. New piers. Neighborhoods that were sleepy ten minutes ago and now somehow have three cocktail bars and a Pilates studio.
So it feels oddly perfect that & Juliet is coming through town asking the same question the rest of us are quietly Googling at 2 a.m.:
What if you didn’t accept the ending you were handed?
The hit musical—created by the Emmy®-winning writer behind Schitt’s Creek—lands at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts this February, bringing with it a glitter-bombed, pop-fueled rethink of the most famous doomed romance of all time.
Romeo dies. The play is over. Except Juliet doesn’t.
Instead of following him into the grave (a choice that has held English classrooms hostage for centuries), she chooses a fresh start—and the show explodes outward from there.
“It’s basically the story of what would happen if Juliet decided to continue her story rather than end it,” said CJ Eldred, who plays William Shakespeare. “It starts with a bang—we meet Shakespeare himself, ready to show off his wonderful new ending.”
That ending lasts about five minutes.
Shakespeare Gets a Rewrite—and Tampa Would Approve
Enter Anne Hathaway: Shakespeare’s wife, critic, collaborator, and the only person in the room brave enough to say what everyone else is thinking.
“She hears the ending and doesn’t really think it’s that great,” Eldred said. “So she convinces Shakespeare, through song, to rewrite it—to continue Juliet’s story rather than conclude it.”
The show immediately reframes authorship as a negotiation—not a decree. And suddenly Shakespeare isn’t a sacred cow; he’s a man with a desk, an ego, and notes to take.
“That tone shift gives the audience permission,” Eldred said. “Not just to accept the change—but to root for it.”
What follows is a story driven by women making active, sometimes messy, always human choices.
“We get to see very strong, awesome women do strong, awesome things,” Eldred said. “And make good choices for themselves.”
Which, historically speaking, was not the default option.
The Pop Playlist That Actually Makes Sense
Yes, & Juliet is a jukebox musical. And no, it’s not just a Spotify playlist in a corset.
The score pulls from the catalog of Max Martin—the songwriter behind more No. 1 hits this century than any other human alive. Britney Spears. Backstreet Boys. Katy Perry. Kelly Clarkson. If you’ve ever screamed lyrics alone in your car on the Selmon, you’re already emotionally prepared.
“There’s a deep connection between Shakespeare and Max Martin,” Eldred said. “Shakespeare was basically the pop artist of his time.”
The production makes that argument literally. Onstage, Shakespeare’s writing desk sits opposite a jukebox.
“We’re drawing a connection between two of the most prolific hitmakers in history,” Eldred said. “And once you see it that way, the songs don’t feel random—they feel inevitable.”
Every track lands because the audience already knows it. The show just hands those lyrics a new job: moving the story forward instead of pausing it.
Representation That Doesn’t Ask for Applause
Under the rhinestones and punchlines, & Juliet is doing something deceptively simple: expanding who gets to be centered in a love story.
“There are nonbinary characters,” Eldred said. “There are lots of different expressions of love. People feel seen in a really beautiful way.”
And the show never stops to congratulate itself for that choice. It just lets the characters exist—fully, joyfully, unapologetically.
One of Eldred’s favorite moments isn’t a song at all.
“Juliet is faced with a really difficult decision,” he said. “And Anne tells her that she deserves to be happy.”
Not heroic. Not tragic. Just grounding.
“That’s one of the strongest points in the show,” Eldred said. “Encouraging people to make decisions knowing they deserve happiness—not trying to fit into some predestined role they didn’t choose.”
For a region constantly renegotiating who it’s for—and who gets to stay—that message lands harder than expected.
Why It Hits Right Now, Right Here
Tampa Bay audiences don’t need another museum piece. They need theatre that understands the weight of the world and still insists on joy.
& Juliet doesn’t cancel Shakespeare. It doesn’t mock him. It does something far more interesting: it asks what happens when we stop treating old endings as inevitable.
“It feeds my spirit to put something into the culture that’s uplifting,” Eldred said. “That gives people laughter and reprieve.”
It’s loud. It’s funny. It’s sincere without being saccharine. And somewhere between “Roar” and “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” it sneaks in a radical reminder:
You’re allowed to rewrite the story.
If You Go
What: & Juliet
Where: Straz Center for the Performing Arts
When: February 10 – February 15, 2026
Why: Because watching Juliet choose herself—set to a soundtrack you already know by heart—beats another night doomscrolling by a mile.
The only truly tragic ending would be missing it.