I MAKE no apologies for declaring & Juliet - now showing at the Sunderland Empire - to now be right up there among my favourite musicals.

Whatever you expect from the production, it is so much more.

Not being previously over familiar with the award-winning musical, every moment of the extravaganza was a delightful surprise.

Kudos to the casting directors as everyone on the magnificent Sunderland stage had my attention and I was totally invested for the whole performance.

An added bonus was medic and TV presenter Dr Ranj Singh playing the role of Lance. He was great – and his comic timing was bang on the money.

The view of the stage set up for & JulietThe view of the stage set up for & Juliet (Image: & Juliet)

And I was so looking forward to seeing Matt Cardle as Shakespeare as one of my all-time favourite songs is Loving You by Matt, the winner of the seventh series of The X Factor, and Spice Girl Melanie C. Matt certainly didn’t disappoint.

A standout performance was by Gerardine Sacdalan as Juliet who takes us through her romantic after-Romeo journey and the ‘what if’ moments of the storyline. And Lara Denning as Anne is simply marvellous – I’d love her as a bestie.

Every scene is mesmerising - the singing, dancing and choreography is breathtaking and being a bit of a Shakespeare geek, I was loving the peppering of The Bard’s quotes.

The use of an eclectic mix of song lyrics to tell the story was immensely clever and perfectly complemented the comedic element.

Who wouldn’t love a bit of Britney, Bon Jovi and Backstreet Boys all in one night. The boyband scene was a 10 out of 10 for me.

I really don’t want to share too much about the storyline as you really do need to go and see it for yourself.

Congrats to the Sunderland Empire for making it such a quality evening.

I implore you to run, not walk, to get a ticket to see & JULIET at the Sunderland Empire until Saturday, September 21. Tickets available online now at ATGTickets.com/Sunderland *

*A £3.95 transaction fee applies to online bookings.