Nathania Ong takes the title role when AYLA: A New Musical gets a single semi-staged concert at The Other Palace on 30 November 2026.
AYLA: A New Musical arrives at The Other Palace for one night only on 30 November 2026. It is a semi-staged concert in the Main House, with a four-piece band. More casting is still to come.
The show is the work of composer Gianluca Cucchiara and producer Giovanna Romagnoli, who won an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Cinema Paradiso. Both are presenting it. It has been in development for several years, through workshops, readings and earlier concerts, and its concept album is already out.
The setting is a future in which the natural world is dying and fear has pulled communities apart. At its centre is a young woman who has to choose: accept the world she was handed, or find the nerve to change it. The production sums itself up in one line: "When the world lost its fire, she found her own."
Nathania Ong plays Ayla. She joined Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre as Éponine in 2022, was cast as Eliza in the West End's Hamilton in 2024, and has since played Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.
Alongside her are Djavan van de Fliert as Mohr, singer-songwriter Arlissa as Sindah, Astrid Harris as Tonah, Glenn Adamson as Rooh and Jonathan Andrew Hume as Crohm.
Van de Fliert's West End debut was as Kristoff in Frozen, and his credits since include Enjolras in Les Misérables. Harris is currently Céline Dion in Titanique at the Criterion Theatre. Adamson is best known as Strat in Bat Out of Hell. Hume played Simba in The Lion King in the West End and is in Jane Eyre at Southwark Playhouse right now. Arlissa's song Hearts Ain't Gonna Lie has passed 100 million streams on Spotify.
The director is Eleesha Drennan, whose credits include choreography supervisor on ABBA Voyage. Cucchiara writes the music, Andrew James Whelan the lyrics and Clive Frayne the book. Cucchiara and Romagnoli adapted the piece for The Other Palace, from an original concept by Tony Cucchiara, with dramaturgy by Michael Conley.
The concert runs 1 hour 50 minutes including an interval. It deals with conflict and war, death and loss, and uses loud music, flashing lights, haze and smoke. The concept album is available to stream now.
Tickets for the Monday night performance start at £25. The Other Palace is at 12 Palace Street, SW1E 5JA.
