Your Lie in April review – new musical of the manga romance somehow works

In Naoshi Arakawa’s beloved manga Your Lie in April – also a film and anime series – renowned piano player Kōsei is unable to perform music after the death of his mother, haunted as he is by her uncompromising teaching methods. Kōsei is charming and sarcastic, two traits that have translated well from page to stage in this new adaptation by Riko Sakaguchi and Rinne B. Groff, with music by Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn.

The troubled young pianist (played by Zheng Xi Yong) meets an effervescent violinist, Kaori (Mia Kobayashi), who is criticised by music judges for her unwillingness to strictly follow scores. As she and Kōsei form a new musical partnership, tragedy strikes. The familiar love story trope of boy meets girl (before boy’s fate changes) is given fresh energy by merging components that, frankly, should not work together: poppy show tunes, gripping classical music solos, energetic choreography and teen banter.

Kaori and fellow high-schoolers Tsubaki (Rachel Clare Chan) and Ryota (Dean John-Wilson) are, however, disappointingly archetypal here, Ryota, for one, having changed from the suave playboy of the source material into a ballsy, American-style jock. But the four teens experience emotional peaks and troughs in an effective blend of sorrow and optimism.

Amid the beautiful cherry blossom that adorns the set are screens playing anime graphics by video designer Dan Light. The musical’s mood takes a serious shift whenever Kōsei’s memories of his mother come flooding back, the screens projecting spooky blue underwater scenes. Sakaguchi and Groff have done an efficient job, distilling 22 episodes of anime into a two-and-a-half-hour show. A favourite moment with fans of the manga, when Kōsei carries a sick Kaori to a hospital rooftop to watch the snow fall, is stunningly evoked.

• Your Lie in April is at the Harold Pinter theatre, London, until 21 September