Your Lie In April - Concert / Harold Pinter

Saw this tonight and LOVED it.

I haven't seen the manga or the anime, so I came to it cold.

Its a classic love story.

An AI could have written it (in a good way lol, in that it's very satisfying) if you plugged in all the classic love story tropes.

In Mia Kobayashi, as Kaori, a star is born, for me.

Some spoilers follow. . .

Let's start with Harry Potter, whose tropes JK Rowling later chose to subvert: Bespectacled mistreated boy with special aptitudes and a dead mother meets a very feisty, pushy, know-it-all girl who also has great aptitudes: Check, check, check, check, check.

Lets look at classic Love Story Operas like La Boheme or La Traviata, in which a bloke meets a feisty inspiring girl prone to fainting (uh oh): check check check.

Lets look at Charlie Brown, where a bespectacled wallflower yearns for a feisty girl who pushes him around constantly: check check check.

Lets go back to basics and look at 1970's "Love Story," (or the musical based on it) in which a student meets and is inspired by a feisty manic pixie musical prodigy who calls him "Preppy:" check check check check, but, wait, she doesn't call him "Preppy," so that's variety.

Lets look at "The Greatest Showman," whose iconic song is "A Million Dreams" and which features a love triangle: well, yes, but here the AI has decided on magnifying the number of dreams and calling them stars, so we get "One Hundred Thousand Million Stars."

Lets look at "Once," in which two musicians share a fragile moment in time while singing "Falling Slowly" together to commemorate the preciousness of their connection: well check, check, check, check, but here the connection is commemorated by a reprise of "Perfect," which the thick, honeyed, country-and-western tinged, delicate, gorgeous, sweet voice of Mia Kobayashi has introduced and reprised a number of times already, so we already love it by the time a duet kicks in.

Anyhow, look, what I'm saying is not intended as a critique. Its intended to show that the manga/anime aspects are totally irrelevant to this story connecting to a Western audience because it already contains every single Western love story trope that works, and that's obviously intentional.

And work it does:

The sad family backstory of the central character is crueler than Dickens (this mother is Mommie Dearest/evil stage mama to the nth degree!) and bonds us as powerfully to the bespectacled geeky central character as much as any number of Dursleys stuffing Harry Potter under the stairs;

The manic pixie dream girl Hermione/Lucy/Jenny from Love Story/etc feistiness (our heroine physically hits our hero on first meeting) is amusing and endearing in Mia Kobayashi's ultra-enthusiastic, ever-manic, but utterly likeable performance, helpfully ameliorated by her sweet and soulful singing voice. The La Boheme/La Traviata style fainting spells have suitably touching story complications; and

The Best friend comedically competing for the same girl, ala Harry Potter's Ron, is wonderfully realised in Dean John-Wilson's Watari (John-Wilson is somewhat sidelined here, unlike his toweringly comedic and centrally involving turn as "L" in "Death Note", but he's great value as a sidekick nonetheless);

And "Perfect" and "One Hundred Thousand Million Stars" hit home runs.

So, all in all, I recognised a lot of influences in the story, but they all worked symbiotically in the most successful, heartbreaking mainstream way possible.

I'm glad human beings created this show before AI did, cos it really was just a matter of time.

That said all the actors are great, with Mia Kobayashi the standout for me.

I loved it to the tune of 4 stars!

PS: There were, ominously, whole rows of the stalls unsold at the back (Row S back), even at £25 for every seat on the night before press night. This will need mighty reviews to succeed, and if you want to see it, I'd go earlier rather than later.

Heading to tomorrow's matinee; just impulse booked!

Special thanks to mattnyc who had put a photo on Seatplan of where I booked when he saw Prima Facie 😜

Could we get a poll on this?

I've noticed they're releasing the front row on the day - but seems easy enough to get tickets. Sorry for the age-old question, but what's the view like?

Poll added.

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.[/quote]I've noticed they're releasing the front row on the day - but seems easy enough to get tickets. Sorry for the age-old question, but what's the view like?[/quote]


It’s a high stage and the centre has a grand piano. Some of the action takes place on platforms but ensemble numbers are played right at the front so you’ll get a crick. A couple of scenes have characters watching from boxes over the audience which places them behind you, but not integral to plot.
There is a LOT of dry ice which completely engulfed the first couple rows at times.

The big solo piece in Act II is Rachmaninov’s Prelude in G Minor (Op. 23 No. 5).

Amazing thank you everyone!!!

I quite enjoyed this. I knew nothing about the source material, but I have a soft spot for Wildhorn, regardless of his flaws, and it mostly lived up to expectations: a charming show with strong leads. I agree with others' sound comments; too loud at times and I lost some words.

I didn't pay much, and there were lots of empty seats. Looking at what's available even for the next few days, it looks a bit bleak. Will they even make it to the end of the run?

This has some of the worst ticket sales I’ve seen for anything in a while. Looks like they’ve closed the balcony.

I love Frank Wildhorn's work, but this felt too much too soon... some great talent on stage - Mia Kobayashi is definitely one to watch. But overall the book seems rushed and totally detached. But once I understood it was an exact transfer of the Anime to the Stage I enjoyed it more. The stage design is beautiful, though agree with some of the comments on it feeling cramped on stage.