West Side Story‘s Rachel Zegler and Heartstopper heartthrob Kit Connor will make their Broadway debuts in a modern twist on William Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet.
The pair cheekily hinted at the collab by posting the first initial of their respective characters’ names, along with the location tag “Verona,” the setting of the famous play.
Connor also posted the details to his Instagram of the “strictly limited engagement” of Romeo + Juliet, which will be directed by Tony winner Sam Gold and feature music by Grammy winner Jack Antonoff.
The announcement temporarily crashed the forthcoming play’s official website.
Noting in the tagline, “The youth are f*****,” this version of “Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy now belongs to a new generation on the edge.”
A description reads, “Left to their own devices in their parents’ world of violent ends, an impulsive pair of star-crossed lovers hurtle towards their inescapable fate. The intoxicating high of passion quickly descends into a brutal chaos that can only end one way.”
Gold won a Tony for the musical Fun Home in 2015, but he also has experience with The Bard’s work, including an adaptation of Othello in 2016 starring David Oyelowo and Daniel Craig. He then worked with Craig again, along with Preacher‘s Ruth Negga, for Macbeth in 2022.
In a statement, Gold said of the new project, “With the presidential election coming up in November, I felt like making a show this fall that celebrates youth and hope, and unleashes the anger young people feel about the world they are inheriting.”
As reported, Romeo & Juliet will also be staged this summer on London’s West End, starring Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers.
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