Juliet

In 1949, choreographer Jerome Robbins phoned Leonard Bernstein with an idea for updating “Romeo and Juliet” into a contemporary Broadway musical.

Opera’s production of Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” last season.

I baked it for the first time in a tiny apartment where I tried to coax herbs from a stubborn little Juliet balcony that overlooked nothing more romantic than a parking lot that, in turn, overlooked train tracks.

Viewers of the show also saw Belly experience important milestones that were not in the books, like a Season 2 flashback where she loses her virginity to Conrad, set to Des’ree’s “Kissing You” from 1998’s “Romeo + Juliet,” during a snowy visit to the summer house.

“Shucked,” like “& Juliet” at the Ahmanson right now, are two clever contemporary shows that deliver the kind of delight you can’t find anywhere else but the musical stage.