When you see Joey Fatone rocking his body to “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” in the hit Broadway musical “& Juliet,” you might think that you have been transported to an alternate boy band universe.
But yes, that is the *NSYNC crooner singing the signature bop by the Backstreet Boys in the reimagining of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” — where the heroine decides not kill to herself after finding her beloved beau dead.
As Lance Du Bois — a man-in-tights role he will be playing through March 16 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre — Fatone also performs another Backstreet fave, “Shape of My Heart.”
“It’s gonna be interesting for people that are fans of Backstreet and fans of *NSYNC to come see that,” he told The Post.
Fatone, 48, also sings Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and Ariana Grande’s “Break Free” in the musical set to the tunes of Swedish hitmaker Max Martin — from Britney Spears’ “… Baby One More Time” to Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”
Martin also lent his golden pen to *NSYNC classics such as “Tearin’ Up My Heart” and “It’s Gonna Be Me.” Although the latter track is featured in “& Juliet,” it’s not one of Fatone’s numbers.
“The first song we ever actually did with Max was ‘I Want You Back,’” said Fatone of *NSYNC’s debut single. “He gets it, you know? And he has a great team of people that get … what makes a hit and what has the hook.”
After “I Want You Back” was released in the US in 1998, *NSYNC got an unwitting boost from the Backstreet Boys when, later that year, the “I Want It That Way” group turned down an offer to appear on the “Disney Channel in Concert” series.
“They were exhausted,” said Fatone. “All of a sudden, Johnny [Wright, who managed both boy bands] was like, ‘Well, these guys from *NSYNC, they’re brand new … you want to give them a shot to do the show?’ And they said, ‘Yes.’
“And guess what — we waltzed right in there and blew up. So thanks, Backstreet.”
But the two quintets were not as in sync as you might think.
“They had a lot more ballads. It was a little bit more sophisticated,” said Fatone. “We’re known more for our uptempos. And I think we danced a lot more than they did.”
Although much was made of a rivalry between the two groups back in the day, there is no bad blood between them. In fact, Fatone and Backstreet’s AJ McLean teamed up for the A Legendary Night tour in which they crooned to each other’s tunes.
“This was kind of a thank you to our fans,” said Fatone of the tour, which he and McLean hope to resume with more shows late this year. “We put a couple of shows out for A Legendary Night, and it sold out fast.”
For now, though, the New York native is focused on his return to Broadway after 21 years in “& Juliet,” after previously appearing in “Rent” in 2002 and “Little Shop of Horrors” from 2003 to 2004.
“It used to be the young characters,” said Fatone. “Now I’m playing the dad parts.”
