O happy dagger, Britney Spears is doing Shakespeare!
Well, sorta: She’s Swedish songwriter Max Martin’s longtime muse — and their musical collaborations get top billing in his new musical “& Juliet,” which is inspired by William Shakespeare’s doomed teen lovergirl from “Romeo & Juliet.”
Featured show tunes include Brit Brit’s “Oops… I Did It Again” and The Weeknd’s “I Can’t Feel My Face,” the BBC reports. The production is set to premiere at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre in November.
But wherefore art thou Romeo? Spoiler alert: He got cut from the show.
The plot of “& Juliet” flips the script with a “Sex and the City” twist: The Bard’s legendary lovelorn lady decides not to kill herself at the play’s climax — and instead escapes to Paris with the Nurse and the rest of her gal pal posse.
Here’s the official hype: “[This] irreverent and fun-loving new West End musical asks: what if Juliet’s famous ending was really just her beginning? What if she decided to choose her own fate? This is Juliet’s story now. So don’t tell her how it ends…”
Miriam Teak-Leewill, an ensemble member in the West End cast of “Hamilton,” is set to take on the title role. Tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster beginning February 11.
BTW: This isn’t Spears’ first flirtation with musical theater: the pop superstar and Natalie Portman both understudied Laura Bell Bundy (“Legally Blonde: The Musical”) in 1992’s “Ruthless!,” an off-Broadway cult hit about a homicidal wannabe child star.
After an eight-month run, 11-year-old Spears decided treading the boards was toxic. “Even though the part was fun, the process of doing the same thing night after night wasn’t,” she wrote in her 2000 memoir, “Britney Spears’ Heart to Heart.”
Here’s hoping this Vegas vet considers making a full-blown return to legitimate theater when “& Juliet” makes its seemingly inevitable Broadway bow. (Don’t laugh — she used to be a belter.)
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