La dirección escénica funciona, solo que cambia el elenco.

Not exactly. Dirección escénica usually refers to the staging or the stage direction / stage direction work of a production — basically, how the performance is directed on stage.

So in this sentence, La dirección escénica funciona means something like:

• The staging works
• The stage direction works
• The direction on stage works well

It is not usually talking about the little instructions in a script like (she sits down). For those, English stage directions can mean something slightly different.

Spanish often uses the definite article with abstract nouns where English may leave it out.

So:

• La dirección escénica funciona
  = The staging works

This sounds natural in Spanish. English often drops the article in more general statements, but Spanish commonly keeps it.

Literally, yes: funciona = functions. But in natural English, works is usually the better translation here.

So La dirección escénica funciona means:

• The staging works
• The direction is effective

It does not mean that something is mechanically functioning. In artistic reviews, funcionar often means to be successful / to come across well / to be effective.

Solo que means something like:

• except that
• it’s just that
• only that

So the structure is:

• X funciona, solo que Y
• X works, except that / it’s just that Y

In this sentence, the idea is: the staging is good, but there is one reservation: the cast changes.

Modern standard Spanish normally writes solo without an accent, even when it means only.

So:

• solo que = except that / only that

In older spelling, or in some personal styles, you may sometimes see sólo, but today the usual recommended spelling is solo.

The comma separates the first idea from the comment or qualification that follows:

• La dirección escénica funciona, solo que cambia el elenco.

This is similar to English punctuation in a sentence like:

• The staging works, except that the cast changes.

The part after the comma adds a limitation or contrast.

Yes. Elenco means cast — the group of actors/performers in a production.

So:

• el elenco = the cast

A useful note for Spain: reparto is also very common for cast, and in many contexts it may sound even more everyday in Peninsular Spanish. But elenco is absolutely understandable and correct.

Both word orders are possible in Spanish.

• cambia el elenco
• el elenco cambia

Both can mean the cast changes.

Spanish is more flexible than English about where the subject goes. Putting the verb first can sound a bit more dynamic or can simply fit the rhythm of the sentence better.

So here:

• solo que cambia el elenco = except that the cast changes

Yes, grammatically it could, because Spanish often leaves the subject unstated.

So cambia el elenco could theoretically mean either:

• the cast changes
  or
• he/she/it changes the cast

Context tells you which one is intended.

In this sentence, if the meaning already given is the cast changes, then el elenco is the subject placed after the verb. That is a very normal Spanish structure.

Spanish often uses the present tense to describe something that happens generally, habitually, or as part of a review/commentary.

So cambia el elenco can mean:

• the cast changes
• the cast keeps changing
• the cast is different

depending on context.

In reviews and commentary, present tense is very common because it makes the statement sound immediate and general.

Yes, that is the basic tone.

The sentence starts positively:

• La dirección escénica funciona
  = The staging works

Then it adds a limitation:

• solo que cambia el elenco
  = except that the cast changes

So overall, it sounds like:

• The staging is effective, but there’s one drawback: the cast changes.

It is a balanced evaluative sentence, the kind you might hear in a theatre review.