The temperature is rising in Highgate with this updated, Americanised adaptation that puts the swing into Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta and has the inhabitants of Titipu dressed like Chicago gangsters and Yum and her siblings dolled up like the Andrews sisters. The running joke is that they are all astonished to discover that they are really Japanese.
What this evening lacks in subtlety it more than makes up for in high spirits, and although John Plews' production is rough and ready, it knows exactly what it is doing on limited resources and makes the most of them. A few Japanese maples lend atmosphere, the band - housed in a teahouse-like structure - are a gas, and the cast are having such a good time that the audience can't fail to do the same. What I love about this production is that it feels entirely uncynical and like a real labour of love. We're talking entertainment here, not high art, but it serves as a reminder that neighbourhood pub theatre is alive and high kicking, and bringing an awful lot of pleasure to a wide cross-section of the community. It is also giving a lot of young actors not long out of drama school a chance to strut their stuff.
Richard Meek has great fun as a wonderfully camp Rhinestone cowboy Mikado, Stewart Charlesworth is a slippery Pooh-Bah and as the man-eating Katisha, a woman who describes herself as "an acquired taste", Erin Carter is terrific.
Hot Mikado brings a dash of West End glamour to Highgate and reminds us - as the BAC musicals used to do - that big musicals performed on a shoestring in small spaces can give audiences a quality of experience with which the West End cannot hope to compete. It's guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
· Until January 30. Box office: 020-8340 3488.
