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The musical & Juliet gives Shakespeare’s young lover a new lease on life, and it’s one filled with chart-topping 1990s and 2000s pop songs, hip-hop dancing and technical wizardry.

Instead of plunging a dagger through her heart when she discovers Romeo has taken his life with poison, Juliet runs off to Paris with her nurse, Angelique, and her non-binary best friend, May. It’s quite an adventure for Juliet and the audience as the trio meets François du Bois, or Frankie as Juliet calls him in this modernized tale. Frankie isn’t certain whether he is more attracted to May or Juliet. To really complicate matters, Romeo is resurrected and pursues Juliet, who has to decide who she really wants to spend her new life with.

That’s one storyline, but there’s also the one with Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway. She is the one who wants to change the ending of Romeo & Juliet because she feels her husband doesn’t allow his female characters enough personal latitude. On top of that, Angelique has a quick dalliance with Lance, Frankie’s father. Sometimes, playwright David West Read, who cut his teeth on TV’s Schitt’s Creek, can’t quite keep all three balls in motion, and the momentum of Juliet’s story falters.

The Broadway Across Canada production of & Juliet boasts a talented ensemble led by Fabiola Caraballo Quijada in the title role. She brings such sass and youthful energy to the role, and she has a voice that makes those famous pop songs her own. She puts great heart into Oops! I did it Again when Frankie proposes to her, and she accepts. Quijada can also dance, and that’s no small feat considering the moves that choreographer Jennifer Weber has given this ensemble. Quijada is a true triple-threat performer because she is able to make Juliet’s many moods believable. It’s like she’s living the part, not acting it.

As Anne, Crystal Kellogg has the second biggest role, and she makes Anne quite a feisty woman. Poor CJ Eldred, as Shakespeare, has definitely met his match. Their scenes are reminiscent of his aging lovers in The Taming of the Shrew. Wondering how, and even if, they can resolve their marital and literary differences is a large part of the fun of & Juliet.

Nico Ochoa has the difficult task of making May strong and willful in one scene, but love-sick and frightened in the next, but does it well. The mixed messages May gets from Josh Fermin’s Frankie are daunting, and Ochoa deals with them vocally, with a powerful voice. Ochoa and Fermin kiss twice. The first kiss elicited a bit of disbelief from the opening-night audience, but the second kiss received enthusiastic approval. The show used Katy Perry’s I Kissed a Girl to maximum effect.

There is a fun moment when Frankie’s family reunites for a concert using Backstreet Boys’ Everybody. After some coaxing, they received the thundering ovation they wanted and deserved.

Joseph Torres’ Romeo admits to being a cad, but he’s also misunderstood in the most humbling of ways. His entrance from the ceiling is impressive and says a great deal. When he and Juliet sit on the moon, it’s an indication, maybe, that these young lovers were really meant for each other.

Technically, & Juliet pulls out all the stops, from the entrances to the fireworks to the strobes and the confetti. Soutra Gilmour’s sets are eye-popping, as are Paloma Young’s urchin-inspired costumes. Howard Hudson’s lighting designs make the production dazzle, and the band complements the singers, rather than competes with them.

The songs from prolific songwriter Max Martin defined the 1990s and 2000s from bands like Pink, Katy Perry, Backstreet Boys and The Weeknd, and the more familiar you are with them, the more impact they will have. The storyline really is there to serve the songs, and not vice versa. If you are sensitive to loud noises, you may want to bring earplugs to soften the volume.

& Juliet runs at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium until Sunday,