With social media ablaze about revelations in a recent boyband documentary which exposes the true cost of fame, The London Palladium is home to a whirlwind of fresh ambition for two nights only as Figaro: An Original Musical makes its concert debut. Helmed by creators Ashley Jana (a streaming-era songwriter with 60 million online plays) and Will Nunziata, fresh from Off-Broadway’s White Rose.
This modern fable shares only a handful of thematic similarities to Mozart’s barber, and instead this Figaro concentrates on fame’s Faustian bargains, scored with a pop-opera fusion.
From rustic Italian farmlands, the story follows Sienna (Cayleigh Capaldi), a stifled dreamer lured from her provincial life by enigmatic showman Figaro (Jon Robyns) after a pivotal encounter with orphans Amelia and Gianni.
Promising stardom, Figaro’s mentorship unravels into a labyrinth of sacrifice, with Act II presenting a morally ambiguous crescendo. Subplots involving Aimie Atkinson’s Lucia—a role adjacent to Sienna’s ascent—and Daniel Brocklebank’s Antonio add texture to this exploration of artistic ambition’s costs.
This may be the world premiere staging but the soundtrack has already been released in a cast recording. Here it’s played beautifully by the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, it’s enjoyable, and at times invigorating, songs like ‘Brightest Star’ (beautifully performed by Ava Brennan’s Gia) and ‘Tease’ standing out in a score where songs jostle for space.
While the music is tantalisingly promising, the book requires an overhaul. The story, particularly in the last half hour, becomes messy and confusing. Multiple characters take every opportunity to tell us that Figaro is a “Monster”, and while we can clearly see he’s an undesirable character, the script doesn’t allow that to unfold naturally for the audience. Many of the spoken portions are clunky or cliched, often leading the audience to laughter where they should be feeling horror.
Jon Robyns makes the most of Figaro, hypnotic in his approach, which works nicely against Capaldi’s naive Sienna. There’s a hint of The Phantom and Christine about them, but again this is more tell than show.
As Lucia, Amie Atkinson is delightfully bitter as the woman cast aside, and Daniel Brocklebank impresses vocally as Antonio, despite the character having little impact on the story. The orphan children; Cian Eagle-Service and Sophia Goodman give heart-meltingly adorable performances which nicely balance comedy and tragedy, they give standout performances with the most developed characters in Figaro.
Despite only being on the Palladium stage for two nights, Justin Williams’ set design impresses with two stories that create the sense that we are going behind the scenes of a traveling show. The lighting from Alex Musgrave is bold and dynamic, but with such a small cast we don’t feel the same energy in the movement around the stage.
There’s enough to enjoy this night at the Palladium, but if Figaro: An Original Musical hopes to have a life beyond these two concert performances, then there’s much to be done around the story and script, and a judicious rewrite would unlock the potential of this ambitious show.
