The Kids Are Not All Right: Broadway's Romeo + Juliet, Starring Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler, Is Poised for Gen Z Worship

“The youth are f**ked” is the catch phrase of Sam Gold’s upcoming Broadway revival of Romeo + Juliet, led by young stars Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler. Shakespeare’s classic tale of houses divided and young love thwarted has 36 Broadway productions on record, each iteration drawing out themes and attitudes that speak to the present moment. But it was Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film version, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes, that became the R&J of a generation. Matching star power with a modern vibrancy that spoke to young audiences, Luhrmann made Shakespeare cool and rebellious—an outlet for the misunderstood adolescent of the ‘90s.

Gold’s fall production has only just been announced, but the ingredients in the mix suggest a production that could very well be the gate-crashing Romeo + Juliet this generation has been craving. From a pair of stars who have already tapped into the Gen Z vein of anger and optimism, to a composer with a yen for a rebel yell, hear why this could be the star-crossed love story you’ve been waiting for.

THE STARS

Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler, age 20 and 22, respectively, are bringing the youth factor to this Romeo + Juliet. For comparison, Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad, who starred in the play’s last Broadway revival in 2013, were 36 and 26, whereas DiCaprio and Danes were 21 and 17 when they were dropped in a peak-‘90s world of gang violence and rave culture. But for reasons beyond just their age, Connor and Zegler are positioned to speak directly to the experience of their rising generation. Connor, star of Netflix’s coming-of-age romantic dramedy Heartstopper, has become synonymous with the ambiguities of modern adolescence. As Nick Nelson, a bisexual rugby player, he portrays a nuanced version of masculinity that speaks to an era less boxed in by singular identities. He’s also done his fair share of raging against the machine, reproving the social media mob for all but forcing his own outing as bisexual at the age of 18.

Meanwhile, Zegler—who won a Golden Globe Award for her performance as Maria, musical theater’s Juliet, in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake—has a YouTube channel built for young adults with big feelings. To quote just a few of her video titles: “life is exciting but i cry a lot”; “mental health, avocado toast, and disney world”; and “i ran away from my problems for 72 hours.” But the vocal performances that also live on her YouTube page—not to mention the ones she delivered in West Side Story and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes—ground these broad emotions in power and unapologetic sincerity. Just listen to her versions of Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk’s “Anyway” or Katie Gregson-MacLeod’s “Complex” (you can also help yourself to any number of Taylor Swift covers). No, this Romeo + Juliet is not a musical, but considering Connor’s own musical credentials (he played teenage Elton John in Rocketman), we can hold out hope for a bit of onstage serenading.

THE VISIONARY

Sam Gold, the Tony-winning director of Fun Home, has directed some of the highest-caliber stars to set foot on stage in New York in recent years, including Daniel Craig in Othello in 2016, Oscar Isaac in Hamlet and Laurie Metcalf in The Glass Menagerie in 2017, Glenda Jackson in King Lear in 2019, and Craig and Ruth Negga in Macbeth in 2022. Just this year, he directed Succession’s Jeremy Strong and The Sopranos’ Michael Imperioli in An Enemy of the People.

As a theatermaker, there’s nothing precious about Gold’s handling of the classics. His shows tend to be stripped-down and in-your-face—something well served by what is seemingly his favorite venue, the intimate Circle in the Square—and unflinchingly speaks to the present moment. (An Enemy of the People is so timely it attracted a group of Extinction Rebellion protestors, clamoring to make points similar to the ones the play itself was making.)

Just as Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet felt exciting and fresh in 1996—positively dripping with the aesthetic and attitude of the late-grunge-era—audiences can expect Gold’s Romeo + Juliet to resonate in a way that feels all too real. “With the presidential election coming up in November,” he said in a statement, “I felt like making a show this fall that celebrates youth and hope, and unleashes the anger young people feel about the world they are inheriting.”

THE TUNESMITH

In 1996, Romeo + Juliet provided nothing less than the soundtrack for a generation, with such irresistible, quintessentially mid-’90s ear candy as “Lovefool” by The Cardigans, "Kissing You" by Des'ree and "Young Hearts Run Free" by Kym Mazelle—all hit singles. Radiohead also wrote the haunting “Exit Music (For a Film)” for the film.

The music for the Broadway production seems destined to do something similar in 2024. The score will be composed by songwriter and super-producer Jack Antonoff, a ten-time Grammy Award winner best known for being behind the sound of the biggest stars in pop, including Taylor Swift, Lorde, St. Vincent, Lana Del Rey, Harry Styles, Sia, Grimes, The 1975 and Carly Rae Jepsen. “He's so talented it's incomprehensible,” Swift has said of him.

Whether working with hip-hop beats or synth-pop bangers or acoustic folk, he has a genius for concocting sounds that are catchy, immediate and connect with young music fans. With Antonoff on the creative team—and Zegler as Juliet—it would be crazy for the production not to include some fresh Antonoff-penned songs. If that’s the case, Broadway may be the setting for the hottest concert ticket in town this fall.