Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler, who are stepping into the legendary shoes of Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers in Sam Gold's Broadway production of Romeo & Juliet, know you've probably seen some clips from the show long before it officially opened its Broadway run — but that doesn't mean you've seen the final show or know what this revived version of the Shakespeare classic really holds.
Romeo + Juliet has just begun its 20-week run on Broadway and features music by Jack Antonoff. There's been a variety of footage from the show shared online, including pre-show promos and snippets from the actual show, including some very viral clips of Connor doing the now-infamous “pull-up” kiss, among other scenes.
The two told Teen Vogue in their new MOMENT cover that they have been making various edits and tweaks to the show during previews, so those viral clips circulating online may not be so accurate now. “Look, we are really glad people are excited. That is an amazing feeling to have so many people who are young and excited about Shakespeare,” Zegler said.
However, she also noted that “we're in an era where we're still experimenting and exploring” the show, and that what someone recorded a few weeks ago may not exist in the actual stage show. “To see choices we made so early on in the run, when things are still changing, be immortalized forever… the show hasn't frozen yet, which means the show isn't the show."
The costars also touched on the “intimate” nature of some of the romantic scenes in Romeo + Juliet. “We have certain scenes that are kind of extra vulnerable,” Connor said. Added Zegler, “That's kind of the thing that you really go, 'I don't know about that.' It's our Broadway debut, it's awesome that people are there and raring to go, but it still is a Broadway show. We abide by Broadway show rules even if we're not like every other Broadway show on Broadway right now."
While the stars may not be super thrilled by all the clips, they also know it's part of our super-connected, always-on-our-phones world. “It's true, what they say about the internet,” Zegler said. "As much as our production is lovely and trying to take things down, somebody screen recorded it. It's on somebody's phone. It'll just keep going up until we die.”
Still, they'd really rather you just be in the moment, appreciating the stage production for what it is and not trying to record it for later sharing or viewing. “We want you to be in the room with us, and luckily it hasn't felt like they're not in the room with us, but that kind of subconscious knowledge can be a little bit detrimental,” Zegler said. Connor, who plays Romeo, added that the Romeo + Juliet team is “desperately trying to keep the audience on their toes and stay two steps ahead and keep the audience surprised,” given that everyone knows the story of these two star-crossed lovers, one of the most popular romantic tragedies of all time. Leaked video clips make those kinds of surprises even more difficult.
“We're hoping that it won't have any kind of impact on how people react to the show and how people experience the show because I think it's a very charged show,” Kit Connor said. “There's a lot of emotional charge, physical charge, sexual charge. There is a lot of energy and we want people to feel that and not feel like they've seen it before.”
