Theatre Reviews

Stiletto
Charing Cross Theatre
24th March to 14th June 2025

In Italy during the 18th century, 5,000 boys, almost exclusively from poor families, were castrated annually. Their treble voices intact, castration promised those who survived a chance to earn fame and fortune by singing female roles in the opera. Venice is a city bristling with opportunity where fortunes can be made but life is cheap. Opera stars being the rock stars of their day, young Marco is on course to be an 18th-century Jagger or Bowie, to snag a powerful patron and play leading roles. One day in a busy square he meets Gioia, confident, strong willed…and supremely talented. Marco introduces Gioia to society and his patron, the Contessa Azzurra, but at the end of the evening, a body lies dead and Gioia is hauled off to prison. To free her, Marco must overcome the demons of his past and the morally corrupt forces of the present…

Review by Richard Lambert, 5 Stars

A new musical set in the high society of Italy in the 18th century with smatterings of buggery and death, what’s not to love! This high quality production of exceptional standards, large cast, large band and experienced creative team have pulled out all the stops on this one.

Spoiler alert – a man of the cloth, the campest creature imaginable, has all the best lines. But that’s only in the 1st half. He comes to an untimely death, stabbed with a stiletto……not surprised since he upstages everyone, no wonder they did him in. But they blame the one holding the stiletto, cos she’s black and they’d rather she hanged. Yep, some good old fashioned racism thrown in for good measure and then we can see who the characters really are – the villains, the do-nothings, the ones who can benefit and the truthful people. It’s all rather Disney mixed with Villanelle.

But don’t worry too much, in the 2nd half, the camp one is a different character in a different costume……

And that’s the only budget saver in the entire production. The set is glorious. The lighting doesn’t miss a trick and has some gorgeous sumptious looks – even down to creating an old fashioned “orange from the left blue from the right” perch lighting looks. The musical arrangements beautifully put together and the staging rather good.

With the masked singer being a “castrati” and the entertainer for the high society, this cleverly is staged as a masked singer. The incredible Jennie Jacobs pretending to be the male castrati with such wonderful vocals!

Hiding amongst the semi-principals is Luigi, played by Sam Barrett, Well, doesn’t he surprise us with an 11 o’clock solo in the 2nd half. Fabulous performance and singing.

Just take a look at the photos to see what this show is all about. It’s a West End extravaganza at affordable prices! You’ll not want to miss this one!

Photo credit: Johan Persson