Sondheim fans are likely to be a bit disappointed here — even if they’ve been waiting a year for tickets. This new co-production with Umeda Arts Theatre premiered in Tokyo in March 2023, transferring to London in November 2023. The original 1976 Broadway production of this rarely-performed musical might have garnered ten Tony Award nominations, but it closed after just six months. It’s safe to say this is a show for Sondheim completists and devotees of the tiny, 180-seater Menier theatre (who have spent the last few years trying to put on every single Sondheim musical).

Directed by Matthew White (director of the 2013 Olivier Award-winning musical Top Hat), this new production eschews the original Kabuki theatre trappings of the original production, and, significantly, employs a mixed-race cast of both Asian and white performers. While probably a well-intentioned attempt at making the source material more human and relatable, in fact it just comes across as stylistically weak.

There’s something very exciting about the design (Paul Farnsworth), which places the audience in traverse, perfectly framing the opening song, “The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea”. As the audience walk in before the show starts, the actors are already walking around the stage as visitors to what appears to be a museum of Japanese artefacts. These are surely brilliant framing devices, and yet they are weirdly not alluded to again for the entire 2-hour runtime (straight through, no interval). It would be so cool if the production made something of the reciter (Jon Chiew) as a museum tour guide, or played up the audience’s role considering the tension between the western gaze on Japan now in 2023 and in 1853, but all of these good ideas in the set-up are rejected by the actual show.

The cast are all terrific, led by Japanese native Takuro Ohno in his UK stage debut, and all do their damnedest with the material. But it’s a shame that the 9-piece band are tucked away and hidden from view: why can’t we showcase the amazing Japanese percussion? Some weird choices turn an exciting theatrical event into a bit of a damp squib.

Playing at the Menier Chocolate Factory 25 November 2023 – 24 February 2024.