& Juliet shows how Canadian musicals can succeed without Broadway 'brand name'

Everyone knows the story: Romeo meets Juliet, Juliet falls for Romeo, and their doomed love pits family against family. Seeing no other choice, Romeo drinks a vial of poison and Juliet … runs off to a nightclub in Paris. 

That may not be the story you're used to, but it's the one being told at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre. 

& Juliet, on now through Aug. 14, is a new musical that looks at an alternate story for Shakespeare's Juliet character, as she goes on to live an independent life — set to the songs of Swedish pop hitmaker Max Martin. 

And though the 2019 play originally premiered in London's West End, it had a major Canadian connection far before it made its way to this country. Behind the curtain, Schitt's Creek writer David West Read wrote the play alongside Martin, always with the intention of bringing it back to his home province of Ontario.

"It's really special to me to be here and to be working with other Canadians again," Read said in an interview with CBC. "I mean, to me, this is as good as it gets — doing a show here."

Despite always having a desire to bring a large stage production to Canada, and despite his ability to work consistently in other industries in Canada, Read says it's never been that simple. 

Aside from COVID-related closures — the last of which kept theatres across the country shut for nearly two years, with Toronto's Mirvish theatres only this year announcing their first full season since 2019 — Read says the way the industry is set up keeps both audiences and actors from embracing Canada as a capital of theatre. 

At the beginning of his career, Read said he had to move to New York to find a way into the industry, a common decision made by many creators and actors in this country. But part of the reason for that, he said, is because of the assumption by both performers and audiences that Broadway is the be-all-end-all, without recognizing the talent and variety of productions here at home. 

"It is sometimes hard for Canadians to find that international stage," Read said, "and I think sometimes Canadians don't celebrate other Canadians enough until they've been celebrated by the world.

"I wish Canadians had a little … more pride for the talent that we have here."

To be fair, Canada doesn't yet have a long history as a Broadway-supplier.

In 2006, Don McKellar's satirical musical The Drowsy Chaperone made it to New York after premiering in Toronto in 1997 — going on to win five Tony Awards, including best book of a musical and best original score — while only a few years later Brian Hill's The Story of My Life had a short run on Broadway in 2009. 

The B.C. musical Ride The Cyclone brought the comedy about six teenagers trapped on the Cyclone roller-coaster to off-Broadway in 2015. Earlier, there was Billy Bishop Goes To War, a satirical production about the Canadian flying ace of the First World War, and Rockabye Hamlet, a rock musical based on the Shakespearean tragedy.

And, of course, there is Come From Away.