Even so, there were enough folk to make it a memorable event.
Good on Zendaya, I say, for not wanting to steal her beaus limelight.
After all, it was her Romeos night.
Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers in ‘Romeo & Juliet’Marc Brenner
He was in the show until 2010.
Holland was back at the Victoria Palace six years later whenBilly Elliotplayed its 4,600th and final performance.
I kid you not.
Fans wait outside the Duke of York’s Theatre (Baz Bamigboye/Deadline)
I think director Stephen Daldry put one on as well.
The women on either side of me in Row E couldnt keep their eyes off of him.
Similarly, Freema Agyeman, playing the Nurse, purred when she glided alongside him and felt his biceps.
He was wearing a white singlet and jeans.
A little Marlon Brando-ish, except that Tom Holland is no Marlon Brando.
Later, she orders him to Stand up, stand up and be a man for Juliets sake!
No, they didnt sing.
Lloyd employs the same playbook he used to electrifying effect in the recent,Broadway-boundSunset Boulevardstarring Nicole Scherzinger.
Videographers follow cast around the stage and the performance is shone onto a screen.
Holland was a perfectly OK Jack-the-lad Romeo.
Some Ibsen, perhaps?
However, I can see why Lloyd cast Amewudah as Juliet.
She sure has fire in her belly, and her line readings were underpinned with youthful brio.
Good work too from Michael Balogun as the Friar and Joshua-Alexander Williams playing Mercutio.
Daniel Quinn-Toye played Paris, and also is Hollands understudy.
Id like to see what he does with Romeo.
The thing is, this is the kind of production that will bring in a young audience.
They dont want to sit through stuffy, traditional productions of the Bard.
Theatre needs young audiences to be excited now so they keep going back.
They want the shiny, bright rawness that Lloyd offers.
