Romeo and Juliet

Now this looks a lot of fun: a version of the Shakespeare play (pretty faithful to the original, apparently) woven together with Queen music, a five-piece band and choir, dancing, and lots of swordfighting.

Says the blurb: “Imagine Shakespeare’s classic envisioned by Freddie Mercury, blending elements of Zeffirelli, Baz Luhrmann, Jamie Lloyd and Bridgerton into a magical spectacle. The production features iconic Queen hits such as Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, Somebody to Love, Who wants to live forever and We are the Champions …” Director Alex Broun says the adaptation by Lydia DeSouza “takes the original story to a whole new level and reveals magic that may often be lost in the text. The show literally has everything – dancing, duels, romance, singing, and one of the greatest love stories of all time. This will be a night of pure joy you won’t forget.” And of course it opens on Valentine’s Day …

The production is directed by Broun for the highly rated Cross Bronx Crew, “an award-winning theatre group that loves the art of acting, making good theatre, and having fun while we do it …”. The cast features a mix of some of the city’s top actors plus recent Sharjah Performing Arts Academy graduates ”and exciting new faces”. Musical direction is by Sam Randall, choreography by Beth Mitchinson from Music Theatre Dubai, and fight choreography by Jay Nagjee.

There are further performances at 2.30 and 7.30pm on 15 February and 7.30pm on 16 February.