Fabiola Caraballo Quijada & Juliet
Fabiola Caraballo Quijada as Juliet Capulet
The past year has included quite the rush of incredible, life-changing turns for Fabiola Caraballo Quijada. Hot on the heels of winning a National High School Musical Theatre Award (a Jimmy, they call it) and graduating high school, Quijada, while preparing to attend Texas State University in San Marcos, landed a role in the traveling troupe of the hit Broadway musical “& Juliet.”
And not just any role; we’re talking THE role: Juliet.
So, just a few months ago, Fabiola was walking the stage at her high school graduation in Tyler, Texas, “And now you’re touring the country as the lead — the title freaking character — in one of the most popular Broadway shows?” I ask.
“Yeah, that's a great way to put it,” Quijada says. “I mean, is there another way to put it? I guess that’s exactly what's happening, and I'm mind blown.
“I feel like I've lived so many lives in 2025,” she continues. “I mean, I was a high school student living my dreams preparing to be a college student, and now here I am, taking a huge, huge leap.”
The show, which is kicking off its five-day residency at Bass Performance Hall tonight, is a what-if story — what if Juliet Capulet from Shakespeare’s renowned “Romeo and Juliet” didn’t kill herself at the end of the play? (Apologies for the spoiler if you were strangely unaware of that ending.) But the plot is cheekily told through a very meta lens, as this plot twist is all the scheming of Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway, who’s negotiated the different ending and written herself into the play. The story of Juliet unfolds as a battle of the wills between the spouses rages on.
Accompanying this wild story are the songs of famed Swedish songwriter Max Martin. If you’ve never heard the name, we’re still positive you’ve heard the songs — Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone,” Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” and Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life,” just to give a small sample. Few have the ability to write a chorus as glossy, soaring, and radio-ready as Martin.
The musical had its debut on London’s West End in 2020, when it took home three Laurence Olivier Awards, including a Best Actress win for Miriam-Teak Lee as Juliet. The musical would then debut on Broadway in 2023 and receive nine Tony Award nominations.
Fabiola Caraballo Quijada & Juliet
So, yeah, it’s safe to say taking the lead of such a lauded musical that’s hitting cities across the U.S. for the first time will require some heavy lifting on the part of Quijada. And it’s lifting Quijada feels well-prepared to tackle thanks to a major influence in her life: former Broadway actress Megan Magill, who heads the Magill Musical Theatre Studio in Tyler, Texas.
Tyler, a small city of just over 100,000, might not be the first place that springs to mind when one thinks of hubs for the performing arts. And, according to Quijada, that’s precisely why her East Texas upbringing was so important to her success.
“[The arts] aren’t the main focus there,” Quijada admits, “but that only means that all of the artists are fighting for a way to be seen in Tyler.”
Quijada thanks organizations like the Magill Musical Theatre Studio, where she studied and performed for six years. “[The theater] changed my life,” she says. “It changed the way that I saw musical theater and that I saw myself as a person.
“[Magill] really pushes us to be the best version of ourselves that we can be, and that's really what I attribute all my growth to. I think there are a lot of students that go through that program in Tyler who really see themselves bloom there. I definitely saw that within myself. And there are so many musicians and actors who come from Tyler. I think it's a little secret hole of wonders.”
Shortly after graduating from Tyler Legacy High School in May, Quijada attended the Jimmy Awards in New York City, where she received the main prize after three prior Jimmy Award nominations. “I just fought a little bit harder this year,” she says.
Riding high on the win and thinking she’d be attending Texas State University come August, she received a call in July to audition in New York for the lead in “& Juliet.” A week after her audition, she was offered the part. “I was in shock,” Quijada says. “And it was a very, very quick turnaround.”
Raised in a household that stressed education — her mother is an engineer and college professor who immigrated to the United States — it wasn’t any easy decision to forego college, at least for the time being.
“But then this opportunity came knocking to be in “& Juliet,” and I was like, ‘The Lord is really pushing me in a direction that I just cannot ignore.’ And, so, I said, ‘Lord, I don't know what you're doing, but I'm just going to roll with it.’”
She’d kick off her performance as Juliet on Sept. 24 in Sacramento. And, seven weeks in, the musical’s Fort Worth stint is giving her family and friends an opportunity to witness her name atop the Playbill.
“Every show is going to be packed with someone I know,” Quijada says. “All my family's coming on Saturday, and my high school is bringing about 90 kids from their theater program for the Thursday matinee. So that's going to be a wild performance.”
So, will Quijada be going back to college once her full year of touring is over?
“I could not tell you,” she says. “I've got so many alternatives in my head. I could go back to college, maybe not necessarily musical theater, but I could go study something else that I'm really, really drawn to. I could move to New York and search for a job on Broadway or I could work for something else maybe, I don't know.
“I just graduated high school. So it's been a lot of learning at once. But I feel like a year is going to be enough for me to learn and grow to a position where I can know what's next.”
You can catch Quijada in "& Juliet" at Bass Performance Hall through Nov. 16. Click here to purchase tickets.
