Theatre / Cross Road

Akinori Nakagawa as Amduscias, with Kento Kinouchi (left) and Hiroki Aiba (right) double-cast as Niccolo Paganini (2024 production).

''Everyone, have you heard the rumors?

At the crossroad outside the town, there lives a demon of music...

A demon who can grant one talent...

A talent that can captivate the world...''

In an age captivated by music, one dark violinist took the world by storm — Niccolo Paganini. He had a rumor that always followed him — a rumor that he had gained his talent through a contract with a demon. At the crossroads, he entered into a contract of blood with the demon Amduscias. Paganini would play one million songs of genius, and in exchange, his life would wither away.

This musical first premiered in 2022, based on an earlier stage reading play written by Bun-O Fujisawa (author of Mars Red). It was revived in 2024 with notable changes. Press preview videos of the 2024 production can be viewed here and here.

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• Actor Swap: Paganini, Asha, and Armand were double-cast in the 2024 production.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • What exactly is the punishment for breaking the contract? Amduscias says that some kind of calamity will ensue, but does he have control over what form that takes? He declares that Niccolo has broken it twice, and several times, he warns him against breaking it. He also seems to manipulate Niccolo into breaking it, in order to cause a "calamity" that he thinks will benefit Niccolo.
  • Did Teresa die of natural causes, or was she killed by Amduscias as punishment for Niccolo's breaking the contract? Or was she killed automatically by the contract, without Amduscias having had to take any action of his own? In that case, when he sat next to her in Niccolo's concert, was he trying to protect Niccolo from breaking the contract, by distracting her, or by absorbing Niccolo's intention by being close to the intended recipient?
  • What kind of contract did Elisa Bonaparte make with Amduscias? Is it called off by Amduscias, cancelling payment? If not, what was the payment?
• Anachronic Order: The play uses a Framing Device where Asha and Armand talk about Niccolo after his death, to put scenes from his later life (involving the two of them and Elisa) into act 1, the main part of which takes place before he meets them.
• Artistic License – History:
  • Paganini died in 1840, and this is stated in one of the first songs, but in the play, it seems like Napoleon is still in power when he dies. Elisa died in 1820, but in the play, she's going to see Niccolo's concert on the last day of his life.
  • Paganini was quite promiscuous in real life, but aside from his butler chiding him over having "that kind of thing" again, this is absent from the play. In real life, he had an affair with Elisa while giving her husband music lessons. In the play, it almost seems like they're openly a couple despite their class differences, and almost no mention is made of her being married.
• At the Crossroads: Where Niccolo meets Amduscias and enters into the contract.
• Audience Monologue: "Mitase Mimi wo", in which Amduscias, alone on stage, beckons humans to come to him, and forget God and sin.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Niccolo tells himself this in "Ancora", but by the end of the play, it's subverted, and he dies without regret.
• Break Her Heart to Save Her: Amduscias possibly does this on Niccolo's behalf when he tells Elisa that she's the one causing Niccolo's decline and that she must leave him. If Niccolo plays for her, the contract might mean she has to die. Alternatively, he might want her away so that Niccolo performs less, and lives longer, which is what he says — but it prolongs the completion of the contract, so if he means that, that means that's what he wants. Or, he might just be jealous over Niccolo.
• BSoD Song: The reprise of "Contract of Blood", sung by the chorus as they entrap Niccolo after his mother dies.
• Cape Swish: Amduscias, constantly. Even when he isn't wearing his cape, his coat is long and swishy enough. After he becomes successful, Niccolo also gets in on this.
• Deal with the Devil: Paganini is one of the classics of this trope.
• Death Song: Niccolo sings a reprise of the beginning of "Ancora" as he dies.
• Demon Lords And Arch Devils: Amduscias is a duke of demons, and leader of 29 legions, as in the Ars Goetia.
• Faustian Rebellion: Attempted by Paganini, Power of Love and all.
• Framing Device: The play opens with Asha and Armand talking about their memories of Niccolo after his death.
• Futureshadowing: The first scene where Niccolo appears is Asha's flashback to the time when she first met him, after he's made his contract with Amduscias, become famous, and learned to Cape Swish like a devil. The audience sees him like that before seeing the tender and nervous youth he was before the contract.
• Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Amduscias is gleeful, Niccolo is grumpy.
• Go Out with a Smile: Niccolo, in the end, after putting aside his regrets.
• Grief Song: The reprise of "Casa Nostalgia" after Teresa dies. Also, Amduscias' hauntingly beautiful reprise of two lines of "Cross Road" over Niccolo after he dies.
• Historical Domain Character: Alongside Paganini himself (and arguably, his mother), there's Elisa Bonaparte (Napoleon's younger sister and Paganini's semi-love interest), and the composer Hector Berlioz.
• How We Got Here: The play opens with Asha and Armand discussing Niccolo after he's dead.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: As the end of the contract gets closer and closer, Niccolo wonders if this is what he wants in "Ancora".
• "I Want" Song:
  • Niccolo has "Cruel God".
  • "Asha the Gypsy" - she wants to be Niccolo's student.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Niccolo once he becomes successful. Being rude to people is one of his ways of managing his insecurity (the others are drinking and gambling). But with both Asha and Berlioz, he eventually melts and helps them.
• Leitmotif:
  • The chorus of "Cross Road"
    • At the end of "Gifted", Costa sings "Gifted, gifted, gifted... gifted enough, even at that age, to realize he's not a genius" to this melody.
    • Amduscias repeats it in the finale of act 1.
    • Comes up again in the final concert.
  • "Casa Nostalgia"
    • Asha sings it in the prologue
    • The main use of it, in the flashback when Teresa sings it to baby Niccolo.
    • The duet, when Teresa dies.
    • Niccolo plays it in his final concert, a one song that can never belong to Amduscias.
• Offering a Hand: How the contracts are sealed.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: "Anathema! Anathema!" sung by a procession of nuns in white.
• Ominous Opera Cape: Amuchan has a spectacular one and knows how to use it. Niccolo also gets one once his career has progressed.
• Parental Love Song: "Casa Nostalgia", which Niccolo's mother sang to him when he was a sickly baby, recurs throughout.
  "Even in the dark forest, do not fear
  The melody will guide you"
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Amduscias' costume is black and red. Whether or not he is evil is up for debate.
  • Humans under Amuchan's power wear red and black.
• Right Behind Me: When Armand is telling Niccolo not to get involved with his new patron Elisa. Armand starts rattling off all the points of Elisa's bad reputation, and she walks in, and finishes the speech about herself.
  Armand: Exactly! (to Niccolo, pointing at Elisa) Who's this?
  Niccolo: The Princess of Lucca-Piombino, Elisa Bonaparte.
• Signature Instrument: Asha recognizes Niccolo's violin Cannon in his house after he's died.
• Sinister Tango Music: "Tango to Sin", in which Amuchan entices Elisa to become Niccolo's patron.
• Unicorn: Amduscias' true form, according to the Ars Goetia. This is why he wears a horn in his hat.
• Vague Age: Paganini was 58 years old when he died in real life in 1840. Does this story take place over 40 years, or is he a lot older at the beginning? Does he die younger? What kind of time span is shown here?