Romeo + Juliet Film in Concert comes to London’s Eventim Apollo on 20 October 2027.
The complete film will screen alongside live performances of its score and soundtrack.
The 1996 movie helped propel the careers of Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
The genre-defying 1996 film will celebrate three decades with a live-to-film performance featuring its original dialogue, soundtrack and score.
No Shakespeare adaptation has left a cultural mark quite like Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. Thirty years after transforming the Bard into a feverish cocktail of guns, Hawaiian shirts, Catholic iconography, and alternative rock, the landmark film is returning to the big screen, with its soundtrack performed live.
William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet Film in Concert will make its world premiere at the Sydney Opera House on 29 September 2027 before travelling across three continents, including a stop at London’s Eventim Apollo on Wednesday, 20 October 2027.
The film will be screened in full, with its original dialogue, while a hybrid ensemble performs the score and soundtrack in sync with the movie. Rock and orchestral musicians will be joined by vocalists, electronics and a DJ, reflecting the collision of classical storytelling and contemporary culture that became a hallmark of Luhrmann’s work.
Released in 1996, Romeo + Juliet relocated Shakespeare’s tragedy to the fictional Verona Beach, replacing swords with guns while retaining much of the playwright’s original language. Leonardo DiCaprio starred as Romeo opposite Claire Danes as Juliet, with John Leguizamo, Harold Perrineau, Pete Postlethwaite and Paul Sorvino among the supporting cast.
Rapid editing, religious imagery, extravagant costumes and a saturated visual style turned a centuries-old tragedy into something aimed squarely at the MTV generation. The BFI has even credited the film with helping make Shakespeare accessible to teenage audiences.
It also became an important moment in the careers of its young leads. DiCaprio had already earned critical attention and an Academy Award nomination for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, but his portrayal of Romeo helped turn him into an international heart-throb. One year later, James Cameron’s Titanic propelled him into another level of global fame. He later worked with filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino and Alejandro González Iñárritu, eventually winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Revenant in 2016.
Danes was similarly already celebrated for My So-Called Life, but Juliet established her as a major film actress. Roles in The Rainmaker, Les Misérables, The Hours and Stardust followed before television produced some of her most acclaimed work. She won an Emmy for Temple Grandin and two further Lead Actress Emmys for her performance as Carrie Mathison in Homeland.
For Luhrmann, who had previously directed Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet established many of the stylistic signatures that would define his career. He followed it with Moulin Rouge! in 2001 before directing Australia, The Great Gatsby and Elvis. His combination of pop music, heightened romance, extravagant production design and frenetic filmmaking became instantly recognisable, with Romeo + Juliet now standing as the second chapter of his celebrated Red Curtain Trilogy.
Music was central to that formula. Rather than sitting quietly behind the story, the soundtrack became part of the film’s identity. Des’ree’s haunting “Kissing You” accompanied one of its defining romantic moments, while The Cardigans’ “Lovefool”, Radiohead’s “Talk Show Host”, Garbage’s “#1 Crush”, Quindon Tarver’s “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)”, Kym Mazelle’s “Young Hearts Run Free” and The Wannadies’ “You and Me Song” helped capture the sound of the era.
Three decades later, those songs remain almost inseparable from Luhrmann’s imagery. The aquarium encounter between Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio’s flamboyant rendition of “Young Hearts Run Free” and Des’ree singing beneath the glowing lights of the Capulet mansion helped turn the film into a cultural reference point for a generation.
“One of the greatest surprises over the past three decades has been watching Romeo + Juliet find new audiences again and again. That’s the enduring magic of Shakespeare and cinema,” says Luhrmann, a two-time Academy Award nominee for Best Picture. “This concert celebrates both, while inviting audiences around the world to experience the film’s emotion, music, and theatricality in a completely new way.”
Tickets to see William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet Film in Concert in London go on sale at 10am on Friday, 18 September 2026.
Where: Eventim Apollo, 45 Queen Caroline Street, London, W6 9QH
When: Wednesday, 20 October 2027
Contact: www.eventim.co.uk