Romeo and Juliet: (not so) By the Book

One of the most colourful and wild retellings is also one of the most recent: &Juliet is the jukebox musical that asks, “What if Juliet didn’t die?” Utterly blasphemous in its reimagined ending, Shakespeare’s story becomes secondary to the chart-topping soundtrack of 1990s and 2000s pop hits by one of music’s most prolific writers, Max Martin.

The ex-girlfriend who is instantly forgotten by the love-addicted Romeo when he meets Juliet, the character of Rosaline doesn’t appear in the original text. Reduced to simply a subject of conversation or footnote in Romeo’s notebook, Rosaline finds her voice in several retellings, including Natasha Solomon’s prequel to Romeo and Juliet, Fair Rosaline, which questions Romeo’s motivations and reveals him as a predatory character.

Author Rebecca Serle also investigated Juliet’s older cousin Rosaline with her book When You Were Mine. Later adapted into the 2022 film Rosaline, this version is a high-school revenge story using modern language in a classic setting (think the opposite of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet) with varying degrees of success.

A playful adaptation of Shakespeare’s play that is actually suitable for children! The story follows a similar (garden) path as the original, star-crossed lovers, feuding families, etc. Only this time they’re a pair of animated garden gnomes who must overcome a myriad of obstacles to be together. With a cast including Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Ozzy Osbourne and Dolly Parton, it’s a film that reflects the strength of the original writing, crossing genres and appealing to audiences of all ages.

Olympic gold medallist and America's sweetheart Dorothy Hamill was joined by world bronze medallist Brian Pockar in Robert Iscove’s Romeo And Juliet On Ice. The special, filmed for television and broadcast in America and Canada in 1983, was narrated by Hamill and set to Sergei Prokofiev’s score, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.