Review: Stiletto (Charing Cross Theatre)

Review by Dan Sinclair

⭐️⭐️

A brand new musical, one not based on a movie, a novel, a poem, or a movie adaptation of a novel based on a book of poetry inspired by a movie, is a blessing. Stiletto opens at the Charing Cross Theatre, with music by three-time Grammy nominee Matthew Wilder, composer on Disney smash-hit Mulan and a book by Tim Luscombe. With a sprawling set and a stage-filling ensemble, will it ascend to the heavens or prove to be more of a knife in the back?

Stiletto takes us to 18th century Venice, where the art of business comes second to the business of art. Marco Borroni, a young castrato (a male singer who was castrated as a child to preserve their voice), works tirelessly under the tutelage of Faustino, his teacher, captor and secret lover. He dreams of making the big time in the opera houses of Venice, and after catching the eye of Lady Azzura D’Orozco, he is on the right path. But after meeting Gioia, the love of his life, he must choose between his loyalty to his career, his new lover, or Faustino.

At the helm of the show is Jack Chambers as Marco; he’s unendingly charming and holds the story together nicely. Beside him is Jewelle Hutchinson as Gioia, a local girl who is the daughter of African slaves. Whilst a confident performer, her character feels chronically underwritten, giving her very little to actually do in the show beyond declaring her love for Marco. Azurra and Pietro D’Orozco, Kelly Hampson and Douglas Hansell fit nicely into the shoes of villains, with their duet Without Me being very much reminiscent of a certain royal coupling in the land of Vulgaria. 

Greg Barnett’s Faustino proved to be the most interesting character for me. The relationship he had with Marco was strange and messy, and I still want to know more. The lines between Master/Teacher and Servant/Student could make for a whole musical on their own. As the Mezzo Soprano, Jennie Jacobs was our stand-in castrato, creating the illusion of Marco’s voice. I did feel robbed. In a world where countertenors exist (a male voice type that replicates that of a castrato), it feels like a lapse in casting, or perhaps the team did not want to write music for an actual castrato, which begs the question, why then do a musical about a castrato?

Tim Luscombe’s book left me feeling flat, not especially funny, but also not dramatic, it seemed just to coast along somewhere in the middle. Sadly, the book dragged on this new musical, lacking in any sauce at all (for sauce, see: ooh, wow, mmm, okay, yeah, that’s interesting). Not everything has to be about something or have a deep insightful point to make, but if not, then at least make it funny. For the majority of the show, it fell into the awful trap of sounding ham-fisted, ’ verging on pantomime with outrageous amounts of exposition and very little action. Hey, I love Panto, but Luscombe is a talented writer who is capable of adding much more depth than this. 

But it’s a musical, and the songs were good. With music and lyrics from Matthew Wilder, I can confirm that it passes the test of having a pretty good earworm, one that’s still buzzing in my ear as I type this out (‘every dayyy, every dayyy, of YOUR LIFE!’) The musical styling is a lovely blend of classical venetian, bit of baroque, a few dramatic cellos and violins, with a bit of hard rock underneath. Vocals across the board are sublime, notably as Gioia, Jewelle Hutchinson’s voice is absolute magic. Backed by a 12-strong orchestra, led by MD Jae Alexander with Simon Nathan’s orchestrations, Stiletto is a real treat for the ears.

Tonally, the show currently sits in a bad place. It wants to dabble with themes of racism, corruption, homosexuality, grooming, slavery, and genital mutilation, but it is far too sanitised to stick the landing on any of these points. I can’t fault it for being safe as houses, it’s not a musical that’s trying to change the world; it knows the Disney formula and sticks to it within an inch of its life. But I dare the team to try something interesting, something with a bit of bite to it, something to make people sit forward in their seat, as opposed to waiting for the heroic bloke to come along and save the day at the last minute, wrapping everything up in a nice parcel, solving racism and institutional corruption with a 30 second monologue.

So often now, the model for a new British musical is to workshop itself into eternity in smaller venues before gradually coming to a final production. With a mammoth score and a formidable ensemble, Stiletto is a big swing, and I have to respect it. To see a large venue, a big pot of money, and a lot of talent get behind an opening this bold is refreshing to see. Does the show need some work? Yeah. It feels somewhat stuck in a now-outdated view of musicals, dripping with Disney sweetness, ie, let’s do a musical where the plot hinges on racism but never actually talks about racism. But if that’s the downside of this style, the upside is an undoubtedly catchy musical score, glamorous lighting design by Ben Ormerod and heaps of the Wow Factor.

Stiletto is playing at the Charing Cross Theatre until 14th June.

Tickets from: https://charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/theatre/stiletto

Photos by Johan Persson