The Greatest Showman’s Keala Settle is making her West End debut in bold queer musical & Juliet
& Juliet will tour across the UK in 2024. (Johan Persson)
The Greatest Showman star Keala Settle is making her West End debut in & Juliet.
The breakout star of the film will head to London’s Shaftesbury Theatre from 29 March to perform the role of Nurse.
She will take on the character inspired by Shakespeare’s iconic play until 18 June, with tickets available from Love Theatre and London Theatre Direct.
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She’s no stranger to live stage shows, having previously appeared in Waitress, Les Misérables and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on Broadway.
Keala Settle is making her West End debut in & Juliet. (Lester Cohen/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
The actress also starred in The Greatest Showman in 2017 alongside Hugh Jackman, Zendaya and Zac Efron as Lettie Lutz, a bearded lady.
She performed the track “This Is Me” in the film, which became a top five hit in the UK and was nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars.
Keala Settle will join Miriam-Teak Lee, who plays the title character, Cassidy Janson as Anne Hathaway and Oliver Tompsett as William Shakespeare.
Meanwhile Jordan Luke Gage and David Bedella, who play Romeo and Lance will play their final performances on 26 March, with new faces to be announced to take over these roles.
Since its 2019 debut, & Juliet has received nine Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best Actress in a Musical for Lee.
The jukebox musical features existing music co-written by Max Martin, except for the new original song “One More Try”.
The stacked setlist includes huge pop singles by Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Kesha, Backstreet Boys, Pink and Kelly Clarkson.
The likes of “Roar”, “Since U Been Gone”, “Teenage Dream”, “I Want It That Way” and “Oops!… I Did It Again” soundtrack the reimagined storyline of Romeo & Juliet.
The story follows Juliet, who wakes up instead of ending her life over a boy. She decides she’s going to be the star of her own story and gathers her nurse, and her best friends and heads to Paris for the trip of a lifetime.
& Juliet has been praised for its extensive queer representation. Juliet’s non-binary friend May refuses to be defined by traditional labels, with their love story being a central element to the musical. Other characters explore related themes of identity and gender fluidity.
The synopsis reads: “Juliet sets off to prove that she is the author of her own story and that there is life, and love, after Romeo. Follow Juliet’s journey away from Verona to start anew and find herself”.
Theatregoers can get their hands on tickets for the West End musical, and catch Keala Settle live, at lovetheatre.com or londontheatredirect.com.
