A new version of Shakespeare’s tale of Romeo and Juliet is coming to the big screen — and this time, it’s a pop musical.
Get your first listen of Juliet & Romeo’s central love duet, “Beat the Same,” from songwriters Evan “Kidd” Bogart and Justin Gray.
The songwriters created three versions of the song to serve three different moments of the storytelling — and a song by any other arrangements but the same name smells as sweet.
From the second they met, they knew their hearts would never beat the same.
That’s the core concept at the heart of “Beat the Same,” the new love duet at the center of Juliet & Romeo, a completely new musical re-telling of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Audiences can get an exclusive sneak peek at the track in the lyric video for the film above.
The song actually appears three times in the film — after the lovers’ first kiss, during their intimate wedding vows, and during Romeo (Jamie Ward) and Juliet’s (Clara Rugaard) final scene together.
“Each version has different musical and production approaches,” explain songwriters Evan “Kidd” Bogart and Justin Gray over email. “And while each uses the same lyrics, they are performed and arranged differently, to best serve the significance of each scene.”
Bogart, who won a Grammy for his work on Beyoncé’s “Halo,” and Gray, who’s written for the likes of Avril Lavigne, Mariah Carey, and John Legend, teamed up to write the score. Despite there already being two musical iterations of the story, West Side Story and & Juliet, the duo wasn’t afraid to blaze a new trail.
Based on the true story that inspired Shakespeare’s play, the film, from writer-director Timothy Scott Bogart, tells the tragic tale of the two young Veronese lovers and their feuding families, all set to pop music.
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Jamie Ward as Romeo in ‘Juliet & Romeo’
“Tim really wanted to stick to, embellish on, and dive deeper into the original Shakespearean tale of Romeo and Juliet,” say the songwriters. “We were tasked to collaborate with him on original pop music to help tell that story and push the narrative forward in the same way that Shakespeare would have using soliloquies and iambic pentameter.”
“While West Side Story is a completely original soundtrack of songs, the story itself, while rooted in the Shakespearean work, is its own thing,” they continue. “And while & Juliet is more closely tied to the original story, it veers off in its own narrative direction as a jukebox musical full of songs that have already been hits.”
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Evan Bogart and Justin Gray
“We’re completely paving our own path here,” the duo reflects. “Also, we’re huge fans of both Leonard Bernstein and Max Martin, so to even walk near any ground either of them has stepped on is an honor. But, we were neither influenced nor inspired by either of these brilliant musicals.”
The song “Beat the Same” was the most essential number to perfect, and it took Bogart and Gray several iterations to figure out. “The first, true duet of the film was always going to be one of the most challenging songs to get right,” Bogart says. “It had to pour from these two characters as the ultimate reveal of their inner selves and voices — but at the same time, had to truly establish the musical language for the film.”
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‘Juliet & Romeo’ poster
“It was also one of the very first songs we wrote, and over the years, the structure itself had to keep evolving along with the story development,” the director continues. “Watching Evan and Justin build the song the way they did, and find the core strength in it as one of the key musical drivers of the entire film, is just one of the most impressive songwriting feats I’ve ever seen.”
For the songwriters, it was all about peeling layers away to find the authenticity of the moment.
“The key to writing a great love song lies in its honesty,” they explain. “All the greatest love songs have a certain level of believability. If you don’t believe the authenticity in the lyrics, the performance, or the emotion, it can come across as trite and schmaltzy.”
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Evan Bogart and Justin Gray on the set of ‘Juliet & Romeo’
“I suppose the point is that it’s not just about writing a great love song,” they conclude. “It’s about telling a great love story and having the right soul to convey that feeling. If any of those elements are misaligned, it doesn’t resonate as effectively as it could. A great love song can make you cry, give you chills, and even give you the power to run through a wall.”
Hear more of the song above. Juliet & Romeo hits theaters May 9.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
