Aly & AJ Cancel Fall Tour Dates as Aly Michalka Heads to Broadway in & Juliet
Aly & AJ have cancelled their November and December tour dates after Aly Michalka landed her Broadway debut — a role she said she "couldn't pass up." Michalka will step into the musical (& Juliet) as Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, beginning November 3 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre for a limited run. The singer announced the cancellations in a statement on Instagram on Wednesday, August 26. Billboard
The scrapped dates ran from November 28 in Cincinnati through December 19 in Anaheim, hitting fourteen cities along the way: Cincinnati, Louisville, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Madison, Des Plaines, West Des Moines, Columbia, Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Albuquerque, Tucson and Anaheim. As a consolation for ticket-holders and fans, the duo released a previously unreleased live album, made available to download or stream for free.
(& Juliet) reimagines Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with a pop score built from the catalogue of Max Martin, the Swedish songwriter-producer behind hits for Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and Katy Perry. In the show's twist, Shakespeare's wife Anne becomes a character who rewrites his ending for Juliet — giving the character a life beyond the tomb.
Michalka is not the only musician joining the cast. Singer-songwriter Spencer Sutherland will make his own Broadway debut as Romeo, beginning performances September 15 for a limited run. Playbill The production also features Gianna Harris as Juliet, Corey Mach as Shakespeare, and Tony winner Paulo Szot alternating with NSYNC's Joey Fatone in the role of Lance. Jeannette Bayardelle and Megan Kane are set to return to the company.
For fans, the cancellation stings — fourteen cities off the routing is no small thing, and the live dates would have been the duo's first return to some of those markets in a while. The free live album softens the blow, and Michalka's Broadway run gives followers a different way to see her perform, if they can make it to the Sondheim.
Michalka, who with her sister AJ rose to fame as Disney Channel artists in the mid-2000s before reinventing Aly & AJ as a synth-pop act, has never performed on Broadway. November 3 will be her first show.
