One man’s journey for enlightenment lightens up The Assembly Rooms in Siddhartha the Musical.
The finesse in this production far surpasses the vast majority of the Edinburgh Fringe. It is highly evident that this is a professional production with good funding behind it and the polish of the piece is evident from the very beginning.
A stage adaption of Herman Hesse’s acclaimed novel Siddhartha the Musical was first conceived in Milan’s Opera Jail by prisons during rehabilitation workshops with prisoners. Now it has completed its fourth year in production, touring the world and wowing audiences with its sexy cast and emotional storyline.
The production tells the tale of Siddhartha (Giorgio Adamo) a prince on the search of enlightenment. Discontent with the life he was living, he flees riches and stardom to live as a peasant for the rest of his life.
With only a small section of the script being spoken in English, the director has done well to keep audiences captivated and interested for the full hour and ten minutes. However the use of translation at the side of the stage is at times extremely off-putting as you are constantly straining your neck and missing the action in order to understand the plot line.
Fabio Codega and Isabella Biffi’s music, and Giordano Orchi’s choreography, is stunning, using Latin American moves and language to create a red hot creation on stage. Whilst Adamo can be commended for his heart-felt portrayal of Siddhartha, Michael Nouri does not quite pull off Old Siddhartha so well. His English-spoken sections seemed very out of place and his acting was very stale and contrived.
Siddhartha on the whole is a mesmerising spectacle that should not be missed.