Alan Plater's delightful, silky memory play takes us on a nostalgia trip back to 1943 and wartime Britain. Here, somewhere in northern England an all-girl swing band is hastily auditioning new members in time to make their BBC debut later that evening because half the band has gone AWOL after playing an American base where the GIs had an unlimited supply of nylons. Time may be in short supply, but the talent certainly isn't, with the arrival of innocent sixth-former Elizabeth, cheerful singing nun Lily, upper-class officer Miranda, and Patrick, a draft-dodging drummer who can't face the thought of enemy fire but who has no objections to dressing up in a red dress and blonde wig.
This is really less a full blown play, and more an excuse to hear all those old wartime hits played and sung with guts and passion by a talented cast who play together, and off each other, beautifully.
But if the plot defies belief and the characterisations are wispy, the dialogue captures the authentic ring of women together making the most of lost husbands and falling bombs. The evening has such a whopping great heart that I can't imagine anyone disliking it.
If ever there was a show that cried out for a berth in the West End, this is it. Despite its structural faults and failure to offer real dramatic tension or (rather more crucially) any development in the pivotal relationship between Elizabeth and Patrick, it has a genuine and entirely uncynical sweetness.
I've left plenty of shows desperate to learn to tap dance, but this is the first one ever to make me want to learn to play the trumpet.
· Until August 12. Box office: 020-7722 9301.
