Music Review: Your Lie in April The Musical – London Cast Recording

Your Lie in April The Musical – London Cast Recording (Ghostlight Records).

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Last year’s all-too-short West End run of Your Lie in April at the Harold Pinter Theatre was an absolute dream for fans of classical music, manga and stage musicals. The stunning translation to stage of the popular manga and anime TV series included a stunning set, masterful performances, and – crucially – a sizzling, electric score by Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn (lyrics by Carly Robyn Green and Tracy Miller).

Your Lie in April tells the story of the young Kōsei, a former piano prodigy whose mother’s death has left him unable to hear the music he makes. A talented violinist called Kaori is introduced to him through his friends Tsubaki and Ryota, and as Kōsei grapples with his growing affection for her, he rediscovers his ability to play.

Originally spread over 11 volumes of manga and 22 episodes of animated TV, Your Lie in April has been cleverly condensed and refined for the stage, resulting in an emotionally intense but satisfying evening at the theatre. Reduced further to 17 tracks (plus a bonus Rachmaninoff piano performance), this cast recording has been executed perfectly.

Wildhorn’s score sticks largely to what has proved so successful in his other hits like Bonnie & Clyde and Jekyll & Hyde – catchy pop-rock musical theatre fare – but this time there are tasteful and delicate interpolations from the classical canon. As well as working effectively with the themes of the show, these add a layer of harmonic sophistication and ear-catching interest throughout the score.

For a show with often-heavy subject matter, there is a surprising amount of rockin’ fun to be had. Numbers like ‘This is Our Time’ and ‘4.9 (Speed of Sound)’ bound along with irrepressible energy and add further emotional weight to the rarer but beautiful quieter moments.

Ballads ‘Just Like a Movie’ and ‘Come Find Me’ are handled masterfully by leads Zheng Xi Yong and Mia Kobayashi, and their chemistry comes through loud and clear on the stellar duets – and album highlights – ‘Catch a Shooting Star’ and ‘One Hundred Thousand Million Stars’. In fact, the performances here cannot be faulted, and Nigel Wright’s production imbues each track with energy to match the thrilling stage performances of 2024.

‘I Can Hear You’, the show’s finale, is included in its entirety, with spoken interludes that flesh out the story. For those who cried in the Harold Pinter Theatre last year, you may or may not be delighted to hear that the emotional impact of these concluding moments is just as intense when heard on headphones in the middle of a train station. Be prepared for public tears.

Wildhorn’s principal achievement in composing this score lies in his understanding of what is required for a true ‘love letter to music’. Though he no doubt could have produced a fine score reminiscent of the classical canon, he instead chose to capture the excitement and heartbreak of this distinctly teenage story with a ‘Wildhornian’ pop-rock sound. He leaned into what he does uniquely well, rather than offer up a pastiche of what an audience might expect. It is wonderful to have such an expertly performed and captured record of this beautiful show. With any luck, this cast recording will inspire the musical theatre powers-that-be to revive the show in some capacity in the future.

Ian Bowkett