them: In & Juliet, Justin David Sullivan Gets to Be So Much More than the Queer Best Friend

The emerging Broadway star talks with Them about their “emotional” journey on the hit jukebox musical.

No matter what month it is, it’s always a great time for May on Broadway. 

May is the nonbinary best friend to Juliet Montague, the star of the new hit show & Juliet, a Shakespeare-inspired jukebox musical that asks the question: What would happen if Juliet didn’t off herself for a boy she met four days ago? 

To help tell this story, the show employs the music of modern-day bard Max Martin, the Grammy-winning Swedish songwriter who is responsible for some of pop’s biggest hits, including “...Baby One More Time,” “I Want It That Way,” and “It’s Gonna Be Me.” After premiering in the U.K. in 2019 and transferring to the West End, the show has racked up trophies, taking home three Oliviers and multiple fan’s choice awards. The Broadway production has been met with similar acclaim, and with the Tonys only a few months away, the awards buzz has returned.

But Justin David Sullivan, the nonbinary actor playing May in their Broadway debut, has already withdrawn themselves from Tonys consideration, citing the American Theatre Wing’s failure to be “more inclusive of gender expansive or trans non-binary performers like myself,” as they wrote in a February Instagram post. Notably, the Tonys have gender-segregated acting categories, even as other awards bodies shift toward gender-neutral honors. And it’s a shame that the Tonys aren’t built to accommodate performers like Sullivan, who imbues May with both tenderness and strength as they get to do something that queer people rarely get to do on stage: fall in love, have a full character arc, and belt out the Britney Spears anthem “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman.”

As & Juliet continues to draw big crowds, Sullivan spoke with Them about their conservative upbringing, why they identify with May, and how a show like theirs can challenge Broadway to change for the better.