It’s hard to believe that this Romeo and Juliet have a love so overpoweringly essential that they not only risk their lives in its pursuit, but would prefer death to its absence.

In the promotional run-up to director Sam Gold’s production of “Romeo + Juliet,” much effort was made to promote the intensity of its young stars’ feelings, justifying the exorcism of that prosaic ampersand in the title in favor of an additive plus sign.

Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler star in Sam Gold’s frenzied, youthful staging of the Shakespeare tragedy.

Characters vape, gender is fluid, desire bi, and death assured in director Sam Gold’s hyperpop reimagining of ‘Romeo + Juliet.’

Shakespeare's classic tragedy, Romeo + Juliet opens tonight on Broadway in a modern new production from Tony Award-winner Sam Gold! Did critics fall in love with the new staging of the world's most famous love story?

Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler lead the nihilistic, nonsensical “Romeo + Juliet.” Nearby, Juliana Margulies and Peter Gallagher star in the sentimental “Left on Tenth.”