"If Gilbert and Sullivan could see me now," cries one of the hoofers in David Bell and Robert Bowman's musical mugging of the 19th-century operetta. If they could it seems unlikely that they would entirely disapprove. Their timeless tale of Yum-Yum and would-be husband Nanki-Poo has been transposed to a Titty-poo that is more American than Japanese, where the three little maids seem to be gearing up for careers in pole dancing, southern-fried sushi is the dish of the day and the characters constantly seem surprised that they can read Japanese.
As a concept it works well enough, and director Craig Revel Horwood and his musician-actor cast give it so much welly that it seems as if the tiny stage might spontaneously combust from all the body heat being expended. So why did it leave me so cold? Perhaps because a couple of years back I caught another production of this show at the Gatehouse in Highgate, and while it had none of this evening's slick production values, it had oodles more charm. Revel Horwood's overproduced show combined with Sarah Travis's overcomplicated arrangements never let down its slick, all-singing, all-tap-dancing front for a second, but because of this it is a brassy and brazen evening that you admire without ever really liking. It is a lesson in how rough-around-the-edges can sometimes be more appealing than in-your-face cavorting.
While it's true that Gilbert and Sullivan's original version is as short on real character as it is on plot, this production compounds the problem with actors so busy belting out the next tune or engaged in the next hyperactive dance number that they simply don't have time to do any acting. Stylish and silly, yes; sizzling, no.
· Until September 2. Box office: 01635 46044.
