Arts & Culture

Girlboss or Gimmick: A Feminist Reboot of Shakespeare’s Classic

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It’s a primal rite of passage for virtually every ninth-grader: ogling at the projector screen in English class while watching the 1996 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, starring Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio. What else would you expect when you put a bunch of angsty, chatty teenagers in front of a steamy film about two lovers who marry the day after they first meet? As you’d guess, the back of the classroom was alive with snarky remarks from witty students eager to comment on the dramatic entanglement between the Montagues and Capulets. But what if those remarks were spun into an alternate plot where Juliet finds Romeo dead and chooses not to follow him in death, but instead breathes a sigh of relief, ready to run off to Paris and live the life she’s always dreamed of? A feminist ending crafted by none other than Anne Hathaway — Shakespeare’s wife?

Arts & Culture

Charli D’Amelio and Broadway: Disaster or Earned?

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Whenever I buy Broadway tickets, I always look at the cast before I go. Normally, I wouldn’t know many of the names of those performing with the exception of a few big Broadway stars — like when I saw Ben Platt in Parade (my friend won a contest and I saw him for $40) or when I saw Jordan Fisher in Hadestown (my favorite Broadway musical to this day). Still, I don’t go to Broadway for the celebrities, but to watch a show with a hardworking and passionate cast. So you can imagine my slight discomfort and shock when I heard that TikTok star Charli D’Amelio was joining the cast of & Juliet on Broadway. 

For those of you who have not heard of this musical, & Juliet is a continuation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet except that Juliet doesn’t die in the end; instead, she wakes up and continues living her life. The show capitalizes on Juliet making her own decisions while using popular songs like “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson and “I Want It That Way” by NSYNC.