Your Lie in April has some good songs but is sadly let down by a clunky script – review
We really, really wanted to like Your Lie in April. The story itself is already a success: the original manga, by Naoshi Arakawa, sold over 5 million copies and was subsequently adapted into an anime TV series and then a feature film.
A stage musical version opened in Tokyo in 2022, which has now been translated into English. A concert version played in London earlier this year at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and was well-received; it has now made its fully-staged West End debut at the Harold Pinter Theatre.
We wanted Your Lie in April to succeed for a number of reasons. The concert version earned rave reviews, and we hoped the full production would really deliver on that promise; it’s rare to see stories of Japanese origin play in the UK (aside from adaptations of already-successful Studio Ghibli productions); and we understand this is the first entirely East Asian cast to appear in a West End musical.
It’s a shame, then, that the show itself is really quite weak. We’ll start with the positives. There are undoubtedly some decent songs in here, which is perhaps unsurprising, as the Tony- and Grammy-nominated Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn is at the helm (although the juxtaposition of traditional manga story and imagery playing out against big Broadway musical theatre numbers does feel a little incongruous).
