{"id":22536,"date":"2026-11-14T03:05:44","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T16:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/?p=22536"},"modified":"2026-11-14T03:05:45","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T16:05:45","slug":"observer-juliet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/2026\/11\/14\/observer-juliet\/","title":{"rendered":"OBSERVER: &amp; Juliet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williamstown Musical Theatre Company presents a sensational interpretation of the jukebox musical &amp; Juliet at the Altona City Theatre until November 21.<br>The show\u2019s story becomes a play-within-a-play as William Shakespeare\u2019s wife Anne Hathaway challenges the ending of his new draft of Romeo and Juliet, convincing William to allow Juliet to live and continue with her life. Anne creates her own character April to guide the action.<br>Taking an innovative approach, director Joel Anderson explains in the programme that he and his team imagined Shakespeare\u2019s Globe Theatre as \u201chaving fallen underground, reclaimed and transformed into a rebellious cabaret club\u201d.<br>Jem Sherwill\u2019s fabulous orchestra fills the theatre with the toe-tapping pop anthems and Dylan Henry\u2019s dynamic choreography is rendered in polished style by the talented cast.<br>WMTC have \u2018pulled out all stops\u2019 for this first-class show \u2013 set design\/scenic artistry by Stuart Dodge, Mike Fletcher\u2019s digital set design, Daniel Jow\u2019s lighting design (speciality lighting by Jack Neill), sound designed by Marcello Lo Ricco (LSS Productions), splendid costumes designed by Louise Parsons and spectacular pyrotechnic effects \u2013 wow!<br>Leading the impressive cast of triple threat performers is Carla Venkataya, who delivers a consummate performance as Juliet. What an exciting future awaits Carla in musical theatre.<br>Tyson Legg is terrific as William Shakespeare and Rachel Rai commands the stage with her spirited characters Anne and April.<br>Mak Russel Gill portrays Juliet\u2019s non-binary best friend May with a delightful presence, while Liz O\u2019Hanlon (Juliet\u2019s loyal nurse Ang\u00e9lique) and Mark Monroe (Lance) add comedic fun.<br>Strong performances are also enjoyed from Daniel Steer (Romeo), Harrison Vaughan (Francois) and the versatile Players, with special mention of Lacey Shattock\u2019s lovely dancing.<br>The vocals and harmonies are beautiful and the show oozes entertainment from beginning to end.<br>Audiences are indeed fortunate to have the opportunity to see such high-quality theatre in the suburbs.<br>Congratulations Williamstown Musical Theatre Company.<br>Performance Details: Until November 21<br>Venue: Altona City Theatre, 115 Civic Parade, Altona.<br><strong>Review by Cheryl Threadgold<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pictured: Carla Venkataya (Juliet) and Daniel Steer (Romeo) in &amp; Juliet. Photo: Matthew Chen.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Williamstown Musical Theatre Company presents a sensational interpretation of the jukebox musical &amp; Juliet at the Altona City Theatre until November 21.The show\u2019s story becomes a play-within-a-play as William Shakespeare\u2019s wife Anne Hathaway challenges the ending of his new draft of Romeo and Juliet, convincing William to allow Juliet to live and continue with her&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_siteseo_robots_primary_cat":"none","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-observer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22536"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22544,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22536\/revisions\/22544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}