Figaro: An Original Musical is the hauntingly beautiful tale of Sienna, a young woman who dreams of singing but feels imprisoned by her life on her father’s farm. When a chance encounter with two young orphans thrusts her into the life of a traveling performer, she meets the handsome Figaro, who promises to make all her dreams come true – but there is always a price to fame. Part love story, part mystery, Sienna’s journey to discover herself and live the life she always wanted is fraught with twists and turns until it culminates in a moment that will change the course of her life forever.

The highly anticipated Figaro: An Original Musical had its two night premiere on the West End and brought something very new to the stunning London Palladium. The theatre was buzzing with excitement as I entered the London Palladium, an iconic backdrop for this show. As the audience was shuffled into the stalls, there were many ooh's and ahh's as patrons stopped to take photos of the stunning stage. With red drapes surrounding the stage, old Hollywood style lights framing parts of the stage, and a set of stairs leading to a room, the staging struck a chord with all as they walked in. Beyond this, the real conversation starter was what looks a black lump at the front of the stage - on second glance, you realize this lump has a hat and shoes, and is in fact a body.

As the show begins, we are introduced to our main character, Sienna (Cayleigh Capaldi), who was born and raised on a farm in Italy and has been living with her single father (Daniel Brocklebank). From the beginning of the show, we are told that Sienna’s mother has been gone since Sienna was young, and there is a general air of mystery around her absent mother.

During a day out at the market with her father, Sienna somehow loses him in the crowd, with a few actors coming on stage holding black umbrellas and swarming her to express to us that she has now been taken to another part of Italy.

Following this, Sienna appears very dazed and confused, she stumbles to a bench and is approached by two siblings, Gianni (Cian Service-Eagly) and Amelia (Sophia Goodman). The two bring the first true bits of comedy of the evening, bringing laughs throughout the theatre. Cian and Amelia are the clear highlight of the evening. They both have the experience of playing the title roles in Oliver! and Matilda, so it’s really no surprise that they are such powerhouses. They have such lovely chemistry together in the show, and their voices are absolutely phenomenal.

Typically, I try not to spoil too much of the story in a show prior to viewing it, and it was at this point in the show as we are introduced to Figaro and his traveling circus that I was feeling quite confused. One of the more confusing parts was the mixed bag of accents in the show, bouncing between American and English accents, although the story was set in Italy. There were certain elements of the show, especially as Sienna is falling in love with Figaro, that we are just told to believe. We don’t see Sienna fall in love or even see her get to know Figaro, yet we are meant to believe that Sienna is enamoured with him, seemingly because Figaro made Sienna the leading lady. Figaro (Jon Robyns) was not a particularly charming character and unfortunately the chemistry was not there between Capaldi and Robyns. Regardless of this, their voices were outstanding throughout the show. I did find the character of Lucia, Figaro’s long time front woman and lover, added something fiery to the story, and Aimie Atkinson delivered a very solid performance of ‘The Tease’. Her costume (Sophia Pardon) for this number was a personal favorite of mine throughout the evening.

The creators, Ashley Jana and Will Nunziata, have the bones of a really good story; however, there is much improvement to be done in the way of wrapping up storylines, loose ends, and plot holes. Unfortunately, I found the overall pacing of the story difficult to follow and the show did fall a bit flat for me. I look forward to seeing what changes may be made to Figaro following the world premiere.