Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor — the latest stars of the greatest love story of all time — met over DM

On the night before an early morning at TODAY, Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor died.

The actors lay prone onstage at the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York, bleeding out in front of a captive, 360-degree audience who took in the Oct. 8 performance of their new Broadway production, “Romeo + Juliet.”

"I always end up with half of my face covered, so I'm trying to — I can't breathe," Connor tells TODAY.com about acting out the climactic, 400-year-old finale. "I'm really trying to not make it really obvious, but then I'm trying to breathe out of, like, one nostril."

Connor's Romeo famously goes first. He takes a poison pill ("It's an Altoid," Connor says) and washes it down with Chekhov’s borg, a gallon jug of brightly mixed “alcohol” that has been sitting onstage for two hours. Connor lies over Zegler's Juliet, whom his character believed to be dead, only for her to wake up seconds later — the original miscommunication trope.

Zegler's Juliet proceeds to stab herself with a knife.

"The process of dying, for me, is the hardest (part), like stabbing yourself — I don't know what that's like, thankfully," she says. "And then everybody gasps because of the blood pack ... and so it's just kind of like, 'What do I do? What do I do?'"

Zegler rips the knife out and lies on Connor's motionless back to play dead (for real this time). “When I hear (Juliet's death) every night, I’m like, ‘Sounds great,’” Connor jokes.

Zegler says she's played dead "many times" as the star of the upcoming live-action Disney film adaptation of "Snow White." "I've gotten very good at the shallow breathing so it really does look like I'm dead," she says.

Many fan videos about "Romeo + Juliet," which kicked off preview performances Sept. 26 and opens Oct. 24, feature a viral audio of Zegler singing "Gimme Gimme" from "Thoroughly Modern Millie," with special emphasis on the lyric, "Romeo and Juliet me."

But the Broadway production is not a musical, nor is it light. But you'd be forgiven for thinking of the jukebox musical "& Juliet," which opened on Broadway in November 2022.

Director Sam Gold’s “Romeo + Juliet” follows the premise that each night, a group of teenagers break into the Circle in the Square Theatre with a “message,” Zegler said on TODAY Oct. 9. That message is delivered via William Shakespeare’s original text, iambic pentameter and all.

Zegler and Connor are prime for the task of the two leads. After all, Connor, 20, was a teen himself until several months ago, Zegler cheekily points out in an interview with TODAY.com.

"It is one of those things that's so accessible because of the empathy that comes with it," Zegler, 23, says. "We've lived that rush of teenage love, and the thinking you know better, and the agency that comes with deciding you're going to forge your own path."

Oh, and there’s the matter of their devoted followings, due in large part to Connor’s role as a version of a lovesick Romeo in Netflix’s “Heartstopper,” now in its third season, and Zegler's roles as Lucy Gray in “The Hunger Games” prequel film, Maria in "West Side Story" and, in 2025, "Snow White."

That passionate fan base is reflected in sales. One month before the first preview show, “Romeo + Juliet” was extended an additional four weeks, until Feb. 16, 2025. Attributed to “overwhelming demand,” theatergoers likely aren’t only there for the plot. As the official merchandise for the production highlights, this story has been told since 1597.

They're also there for Connor and Zegler, as the young actors tell a tale about teenagers with the modern sensibilities, symbols and style associated with Generation Z.

'Wherefore art thou Romeo?'

Connor and Zegler didn’t actually meet until March, after accepting the roles of the famed star-crossed lovers and seven months before opening.

“We both took the job without having met,” Connor said on TODAY. “That’s always a scary thing. ... And playing the most iconic couple probably of all time is going to be daunting as well.”

Their official meeting occurred at the Cosmic Diner on the corner of 52nd Street and 8th Avenue. “A very iconic Broadway meeting,” Zegler tells TODAY.com.

But before that, they shared a “short interaction on Instagram DM,” Connor says.

When it became “inner knowledge” that Connor and Zegler were up for the lead roles, the “West Side Story” actor slid into her future co-star’s direct message inbox.

“She sent me a lovely message, and just kind of said, ‘Hey, I really hope we can do this. I’m really looking forward to it if it does end up happening,’” Connor recalls. “I thought that was a very nice way to start the conversation.”

So his first impression was simply: “She’s nice.”

Zegler calls his reply “very sweet.”

“I didn’t know if you were even going to see it because we didn’t follow each other, or anything like that,” she adds, gesturing toward Connor. “I was aware of his immense talent. I knew it was not going to be a hard job for him because I think he’s brilliant. And getting to meet him, it was just kind of icing on the cake that he was deeply kind and charismatic and funny.”

“Yeahhhhh,” Connor drawls in response, soaking up the praise.

'Did my heart borg 'til now?'

Like the 1996 Baz Luhrmann film "Romeo + Juliet," Gold’s Broadway adaptation stylizes the title with a plus sign. And like the Luhrmann film, it features imagery, costumes and music recognizable to the youth of its respective time.

At the start, the stage is littered with modern objects — an inflatable reclined chair, a shopping cart full of teddy bears and a borg, or a "blackout rage gallon," a dangerous mixed drink and trend associated with college campus culture.

Throughout the play, the borg is carried by Sola Fadiran's character, Capulet, as part of the overarching depiction of him as an "abusive father" to Juliet, Zegler says. But it also reflects the frame narrative of kids breaking in and using whatever props they can find to tell the story. For example, the "poison" Juliet drinks to fake her own death is acted out with an airplane bottle of Hennessy.

"We really wanted it to have this through line of, 'Is it alcohol or is it poison?'" Zegler says.

In true borg culture, the jugs each feature a pun of the word "borg," written in Sharpie. In the Oct. 8 show, the jugs read, "Did my heart borg 'til now?" and, "Borg and borg I come!" Translation: "Did my heart love till now?" and, "By and by, I come!"

Past examples include "William Shakesborg" and, "To borg, or not to borg."

"Shakespeare would love them," Connor jokes.

Costumes and accessories include sheer mesh tops, stuffed animal charms, a Hello Kitty backpack and a lime green tank top reminiscent of "Brat" summer, the fashion trend associated with Charli XCX's latest album. Adding to the "Brat" theme, Zegler's current Instagram bio is "I'm so Juliet."

"Something that we try to do a lot ... is create these incredibly dark, morbid moments with these things. (Gold) almost forces the audience to kind of laugh awkwardly," Connor says.

But even the "awkward laugh" serves a purpose, Zegler notes.

"The awkward laugh is born from reminding you that they are kids," she says. "It's like the nurse talking about my virginity while I have a teddy bear strapped to my belt loops. It's dark."

The show also features some music moments, courtesy of Bleachers frontman and Taylor Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff. In addition to the pulsing synth beats that play during transitions and intense emotional peaks, there's an upbeat disco pop song to score a party and a mournful ballad after Romeo's exile, both sung by Zegler.

These pop culture and fashion moments are likely recognizable to people who self-identify as "chronically online" and/or were born after 2000. It's led by Gen Z, seemingly for Gen Z.

"For me, in the same way you would approach any role that is tricky ... you want to put yourself in their shoes and try to think about what they're going through and relate in what ways you can and imagine in what ways your can't," Connor says.

The show's tagline is, "The youth are f---ed."

"It's a story that really does center around what happens when parents tell their children, 'We don't like those people,'" Zegler says.

"It's also just, you know, about the fact that young people make stupid decisions, and they have consequences. But it's also, like — what are the kids saying? — it's a canon event. It has to happen," she adds.

First used in 2023's "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," a canon event is a moment that must happen in someone's life to ensure certain future events, according to Urban Dictionary.

In order for the Montagues and Capulets to settle their feud, Romeo and Juliet have to die, and for that to happen, Romeo has to be exiled, Tybalt slain, Mercutio murdered, and so on.

"It's kind of like being doomed by the narrative," Zegler says (another pop culture trope).

"It's kids living in the world that they live in in their own minds," Connor adds. "And for them, it is world-ending, the things that are happening to them."

The 'Romeo + Juliet' fandom

Before their appearance on TODAY, Connor and Zegler went to sleep at 1:30 a.m. Weeknight performances of "Romeo + Juliet" start at around 8 p.m., and the “two hours' traffic of our stage,” plus an intermission, put the final bow on the Oct. 8 show at about 10:30 p.m.

Then, outside the theater, hundreds of fans gathered behind a barricade, not unlike the front row of a concert, phones up and directed at the stage door. A theater manager walked in front of the crowds at the side of the theater, repeating, “There’s no guarantee they will make it down each side.”

Fans waiting at the stage door of a Broadway production for a photo or signature isn’t notable. Just ask the Circle in the Square’s neighbor, the Gershwin Theatre, home to “Wicked” since it opened in 2003.

But “Romeo + Juliet” hasn’t technically opened.

Since the first night of shows Sept. 26 – which drew nearly 1,000 fans — swarms have waited for the stars every night, indicated by fresh batches of videos posted to TikTok.

That doesn't prevent Connor and Zegler from experiencing bouts of imposter syndrome, or the feeling that you aren’t as capable as people think you are.

Zegler says the last time she felt imposter syndrome was during her appearance on TODAY, when she was introduced as the winner of a Golden Globe for best actress in a motion picture, comedy or musical for her role in "West Side Story."

"It makes you shake your head and go, 'That's not me,'" she says.

"I know that I'm working hard, but have I worked hard to earn my name being really big on the marquee every day?" she adds. "That's what my brain tells me."

Similarly, Connor says, "I have it every day when I walk into the theater," citing an element of comparison he makes between himself and his co-stars.

"You guys deserve to be here. I'm not sure if I do. But let's try and convince them that I do," he says.

So for now, they are making the most of it.

"I don't know what I've done to earn a seat at this table," Zegler says. "But I best do what I can with that seat."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com