"& Juliet" Book by David West Read.

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

I've heard so much about this relatively new jukebox musical but this is the first time that I have seen it, even though it first premiered six years ago.

The story focuses on a "what if" scenario, where Juliet decided not to kill herself at the end of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". 

William Shakespeare is introduced by the cast at his first production of "Romeo and Juliet", and welcomes the audience to his newest play. Shakespeare then also introduces his wife, Anne Hathaway, who is visiting from Stratford upon Avon to see the play - the baby sitter has the kids! She suggests he change the ending, wondering what would have happened if Juliet did not kill herself, much to Shakespeare's displeasure.

Nevertheless, Shakespeare allows his wife to explain her idea for the play, which begins with Juliet waking up to find Romeo dead. At Romeo's funeral, Juliet discovers that Romeo has had several lovers, both male and female, and so starts Juliet's alternative story, allowing herself a second chance at love and life, and on her terms.

Being a fan of Shakespeare, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there are plenty of quotes and original script from Shakespeare's play, along with some very clever, and comical puns and wordplay.

Jay McGuinness plays Shakespeare. I've now seen Jay in several roles, both musicals and plays, so I know what a versatile actor, and performer he is, and in this role, his versatility continues to shine. Choosing a professional singer to appear in a jukebox musical is always a very good option, so we knew that the vocal performances were going to be excellent, and both Jay and Lee's performances were the very best. Jay's comedy and stage craft were also excellent and looks very natural in this part.

Gerardine Sacdalan plays Juliet. You can see why Romeo fell for this Juliet; in the same way that we all fell for Gerardine Sacdalan. Her performance is magnetic and when you match that with her vocals, these anthems really do deserve to be classed as "power anthems". Comedy is quite natural to Gerardine and the links into the songs are also sharp, particularly in the case of "Oops I Did It Again", as she proposes marriage to Francois, not that long after discovering Romeo's death. There's no awkwardness that you sometimes see in jukebox musicals bringing the lyrics of the songs into line with the action at that stage without either feeling forced.

Anne Hathaway is played by Lara Denning, another actor where the adjective "versatile" springs to mind. The emotion and comedy that flip-flop with Hathaway/April at times balance perfectly with her vocals, especially in "That's The Way It Is" which is performed powerfully and immaculately. She soaked up the richly deserved applause after this song before bringing the next scene on, giving the audience time to show their appreciation, and Lara to reap the rewards of her performance, as well as to get her breath back after such a song. 

Anne had decided to write herself the part of April, Juliet's friend and confidante, so that she could change the course of true love, allowing it to run smooth, or so she thought anyway.

Sandra Marvin is Angelique, a brilliant comedy character, but it's Sandra's voice that also made me sit up and take notice of her. Loved the accent and loved the comic timing and delivery, as well as the chemistry that she has with Lance.

Jordan Broatch is May, a character who, through this coming of age journey, starts to feel comfortable at discovering their own identity, after meeting the love of their life. But as Bill Shakespeare once penned, the course of true love never did run smooth and there are a few barriers that May has to broach before getting spliced to their intended. 

Kyle Cox is Francois, Lance's son, and a really charming character role who has confidence issues. His French father has thrown a ball to try and find his son a wife, but Lance's match-making skills didn't quite go to plan, especially as he's tried to already match everyone at the ball to his son previously. As with Shakespeare's best laid plans and written plays, confusion and mistaken identity was rife and we see another example of this at the ball, when one of the uninvited guests accidentally proposes. I think that I have already revealed that spoiler earlier!

Another well known name and face in the cast is Lee Latchford-Evans, who plays Lance. Lee is one fifth of the band Steps. As with Jay, being a professional pop singer guarantees that his role in a musical delivers great vocals, and it was nice to actually hear what a really good voice that he has, something you don't really get to appreciate when there are four others in your band. I know that Lee has crafted a good stage career away from Steps, so his natural acting ability comes as no surprise.

Romeo is played by Liam Morris, who hath stepped into the breach to play Romeo for this performance, showing that Understudies, of which there were three in this opening night performance, are as good as the chosen actors, well I imagine that Liam is just as good as Jack, who should have played this part, from this performance. A brilliantly strong voice and a nice easy to watch, slightly camp portrayal of Romeo, which all adds to the fun of the role. 

The rest of the company are Harriet Caplan-Dean (Eleanor), Alexander Kranz (Lennox), Joe Wolstenholme (Augustine), Andile Mabhena (Richard), 

Psalms-Nissi Myers-Reid (Lucy), Michael Nelson (Henry), Katie Ramshaw (Lady C and Nell), Aaron Shales (Gregory), Rosie Singha (Judith) and Nia Stephens (Imogen).

Directed by Luke Sheppard, this is a musical that travels at breakneck speed through some of the best pop hits of the last thirty odd years. It's wonderfully camp and the storyline, from David West read's book is perfect for these toe tapping songs, and retains the energy of every boyband, or is that Boi Band?

The script is ridiculously clever, one of my favourite lines is during the duet between Will and Anne, when he doth profess his love for his wife in the parody of the Backstreet Boys' song "I Want It That Way", and he then tells her "I want Anne Hathaway" and that there will only be one Anne Hathaway..... think about it! It's clever wordplay like this that makes this jukebox musical head and shoulders above most others.

Choreography is by Jennifer Weber, and as you'd expect from a musical that has so many pop classics, two pop stars and a whole host of incredible dancers, the choreography is as sharp as any music video.

The exciting and colourful set design is by Soutra Gilmour. The drop ins fill the stage and there are sections where actors are hoisted above the stage on crescent moons among the video designs, bringing an extra layer of class to the visual side of this musical.

The costumes have been designed by Paloma Young. Just take a look at the photos to get a feel for what these costumes look like and just how good they look. Shakespearian smart.

Musical Director, arranger and Orchestrator is Bill Sherman. A whole host of pop classics are featured in this show including "Larger Than Life", "I Want It That Way", "As Long As You Love Me" (Backstreet Boys), "Baby One More Time", "Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman", "Oops I Did It Again"(Britney Spears), "Roar", "I KIssed A Girl" (Katy Perry), "Since U Been Gone" (Kelly Clarkson), "It's My Life" (Bon Jovi) and so many modern pop bangers. 

But what makes this jukebox musical work where some don't is that the songs are not just replicated, karaoke style, and stuck in the musical willy nilly, the arrangements and the lyrics of the songs really do tell the story of the scenario at that particular junction of the story.

Sound design is by Gareth Owen, and what I loved about this design is that it was not afraid to be loud, as well as proud. It's the kind of sound that you'd expect from a pop concert, and just as exciting.

Lighting design is by Howard Hudson. Again the lighting is the sort of design that would not be out of place in a concert.

The video design, by Andrzej Goulding is possibly one of the most exciting and vibrant designs that I have seen on a stage of this size for a long time. It really was like being at a music concert when combined with the sound and light design. Visually and aurally very exciting indeed.

Shakespeare is known for his comedy, romance and tragedies, but the only tragedy here is if you don't get a ticket for this excellent show. I'm sure there's some connection between Lee and tragedy, and I'm sure that I'll figure it out here and now if you give me five, six, seven, eight seconds or so. These tickets could be the most wanted tickets in Nottingham this week, just ask Jay!

"& Juliet" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 19 April.