Giulia at PAC
I saw this afternoon's performance of Giulia, The Poison Queen of Palermo at PAC NYC (it's wrapping up its first week of previews), and I'm still buzzing.
I went in completely blind, having only seen a few TikTok clips beforehand, and it blew me away. Some thoughts:
The show itself
Jennifer Nettles wrote the score and stars in the lead role, and honestly, she's a revelation. Her voice is extraordinary, the music is beautiful, and she's written a genuinely strong show. Austin McCormick's choreography actually serves the story instead of just showing off: it never feels like "cool moves for the sake of cool moves," which is refreshing. Mary Zimmerman's direction is strong too. There's room to tighten things up, but the bones here are excellent.
The book itself is fairly predictable (it's so bonkers it must be true - it's pretty faithful to history); you won't be shocked by where the plot goes. But it doesn't need to surprise you, because it's carried by such strong performances and an original score that really soars. A few songs feel like they could be trimmed or tightened (it's almost entirely sung-through), but that's the kind of thing previews are for.
The cast
Nettles leads as Giulia, an Italian apothecary owner who supplies poison to local women, but only to those wronged by abusive husbands or lovers; she has her own moral code. The rest of the cast is uniformly strong:
- Naomi Serrano plays Giulia's daughter Vitoria with a genuinely powerful voice for a young actress.
- Didi Romero is a scene-stealer as the Duchessa, a snooty rich woman who's never been told no in her life. If this show has a life beyond off Broadway, don't be shocked if she gets a featured actress nomination.
- Quentin Earl Darrington plays the Cardinale who runs the city; the male roles are written a bit thinner than the female ones, but he makes the most of it.
- Christopher M. Ramirez is excellent as the Governatore: sexy, slimy, and weirdly someone you root for until the truth comes out. I wasn't familiar with him before, but I kept thinking he'd be perfect in any of the male roles in *Hamilton*.
- The ensemble covers a lot of ground, and it's always great to see Andrew Kober back on stage.
The design
The set is a real, physical set (not screens), built around three transformable openings that become the apothecary, the church, or the town square, plus a striking staircase. It's really well done. If this transfers to Broadway, they'll probably need to rework it a bit: sight lines from stage left were rough early on, and I had some trouble seeing at times.
Bottom line
I left the theater feeling genuinely empowered and excited. If there's a theater available by around March 2027, they'd be fools not to bring this to Broadway. Jennifer Nettles is that good, and she clearly loves this project. The comparison that keeps coming to mind is Sara Bareilles and Waitress: a musical she wrote, didn't originate on Broadway, but ultimately starred in and was phenomenal in. That's the trajectory I could see for Nettles here.
Highly recommend catching it during previews if you can.