Musicals that are constructed around a collection of songs by a particular artist or group (such as the recent Spice Girls musical ‘Viva Forever’) have recently been much criticised by no less an authority than Andrew Lloyd Webber who referred to them as ‘jukebox musicals’. This musical clearly falls into this category with its flimsy storyline (the only cutting edge being some brief comment on attitudes to race in the early ‘60s) and the way in which every piece of dialogue does little more than line up the next song. Having said this it is difficult to be too critical of a show as unpretentious and so full of that most overused cliché, ‘the feelgood factor’.

This is a musical that unashamedly showcases the songs of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. If their names don’t immediately strike a chord, the names of some of their multitude of hits such as ‘Viva Las Vegas’, ‘Can’t get used to losing you’ and ‘Little Sister’, will. The multi-talented cast sing, dance, play(there is an onstage band) and act with an infectious energy that is disarming as one hit song after another is expertly delivered.

Two particular highlights were a cappella versions of ‘Sweets for my sweet’ and a superb ‘Hushabye’ sung by the full cast. The soloists were uniformly strong though particularly noteworthy were the excellent Elizabeth Carter as the original teenager in love Marie and Alan Howell as Carlo.