This new musical by Emmy and Oscar nominee and composer of Disney’s Mulan, Matthew Wilder, and playwright Tim Luscombe is titled Stiletto, and in it, a harp-pointed dagger deals a lethal blow, but it centres on castrato singer Marco Borroni.
As a child, he was bought from his parents by Faustino Conti, who recognised a pure voice with potential. Castrated to preserve the high voice of boyhood, Conti has trained him in opera and now, in the Venice of 1730, is ready to showcase his pupil and lover before Venetian high society at the palazzo of his patron, Azurra D’Orozco, and her husband, Pietro.
Marco’s voice impresses the director of a leading opera house and, with him as Azurra’s protégée and toyboy, he and Faustino seem set for success. But Marco has met a beautiful young female singer, Gioia, the daughter of black slaves, who has a voice to rival his own. With whom will Marco’s loyalties lie?
Ceci Calf’s colonnaded setting, with the winged lion of the city dominant above its dark shadows and Anna Kelsey’s rich costumes, presents a world in which luxury sits alongside skullduggery. Pietro D’Orozco and his boyfriend Luigi are creaming off cash from rich philanthropists.
Douglas Hansell makes Pietro a self-righteous villain, while Kelly Hampson makes Azurra so lively you can’t help but like her, but it is Jack Chambers as Marco and Jewelle Hutchinson as Gioia who form the central story. Though their developing relationship is scantily sketched in, they bring strong stage presence and excellent voices.
Musical numbers range across styles, often more aria than show song, but strongly sung and sometimes belted out at opera house volume but lusciously scored. Supporting characters, such as Sam Barrett’s Luigi and Marco’s friend Niccolo (Connor Wood), get their moment and dramatically deliver. Greg Barnett is particularly moving duetting with Marco as self-poisoned Faustino, and a masked Jennie Jacobs makes a special contribution.
The countertenor is the modern voice closest to castrato, but (unlike Claire van Kampen’s Farinelli and the King) hasn’t been used here and Stiletto doesn’t really explore the life of a castrato—but you do get embezzlement, accidental killing, a glimpse of ecclesiastical corruption, a near hanging, some kinky pairing, heavy rhyming and some laughs along with the rich sound.