Betsy Wolfe Looks Back on Two Glittering Years with & Juliet

When Betsy Wolfe takes her final bow in & Juliet at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on October 20, she’ll be one week shy of two years since her first Broadway performance as Anne Hathaway. Including her run in the show’s pre-Broadway stint in Toronto, she’s spent over two years belting Max Martin hits and showering her co-stars in glitter, all while brazenly challenging her onstage husband—a self-obsessed William Shakespeare—to rewrite his most famous tragic heroine (because Romeo is so not worth it). 

The character has been a canvas for all of Wolfe’s greatest strengths: the wry humor she brought to shows like The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Bullets Over Broadway, and the heartrending pathos she lent to musicals like Waitress and Falsettos. Throw in a Céline Dion power ballad and it’s no wonder the part earned Wolfe the first Tony nomination of her career.

Read Wolfe’s reflections on her time as this “ballsy, brassy, eccentric feminist.” She won't spill her boy band preferences, but everything else is fair game. 

Which & Juliet song will take the longest to get out of your head?

Honestly, three-ish years later I still love these songs. They’re number-one hits for a reason. “I Want It That Way” came on when I was in a HomeGoods recently and I immediately started dancing in the aisle, obviously.

This has been your longest run in a Broadway show. What have you done over the past two years to keep the show fresh for you and the audience?

I get so excited to bring life to what’s on the page and what’s not. Actors are expected to use that creativity while crafting the show and we can’t just shut that creativity off the day it opens and rinse and repeat. It’s a skill to originate and it’s a skill to maintain, especially comedy. It has to stay fresh for me too or else it’s not funny to you. For me, it’s all so lived in now and yet I still get inspired when I have a lightbulb moment.

Which (if any) of your costumes would you most like to steal?

I will be stealing my finale teal and cream wedding costume. I’m sorry, when does this article run?

Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC?

Nice try.

What traits of Anne’s do you hope you’ve absorbed for yourself?

Unabashed confidence and the boldness to throw glitter in any room I’m in.

Has your daughter cultivated any strong opinions on the show? Can she sing any Max Martin hits?

She has strong opinions and plays all the roles. “Mommy, don’t sing.”

You earned your first Tony nomination with & Juliet. What is the first memory that comes to mind when you look back on your whirlwind Tony season?

A couple of things come to mind. Taking my first bow as a Tony nominee and realizing that in that moment no one could ever take that from me. Also, growing up in California, my mom, dad, sister and I used to watch the Tonys on TV, so to have my mom and dad at the Tonys with me and share that night, our collective journey will be a memory I’ll treasure forever.

Where will your cardboard cutout of the other Anne Hathaway live after she moves out of your dressing room?

Oh, she’s currently in the bathroom of my dressing room. Many people have asked for it, but from her smirk, I think she’s happy in there.

What onstage mishap from your time with & Juliet still makes you laugh and/or cringe?

One joyous moment comes to mind and it only happened once. For some reason Stark Sands and I got the giggles during “I Want It That Way” and every phrase of “I Want It That Way,” we could barely eke out the end of the phrase. So every time we sang, you just heard “I want it (inaudible giggles).” It happened every time we sang the phrase. The song might have as well been called “I Want It.” It was a treasured, insane, once-in-a-run moment and it still makes me laugh. And yes, there’s audio.

What words of either wisdom or love would you like to pass on to future Anne Hathaways?

"There will never be another Anne Hathaway." I’m sorry, that was a set up. Close your mouth when you throw the glitter.