Ella Fitzgerald obsessive Lotte has a split personality - a five-way split to be precise. Paul Sirett's cabaret-style entertainment presents the initially confusing spectacle of five Geordie club singers in matching black dresses, who turn out to represent five different facets of the same person.
Yet just as you think things can't become any more surreal, Lotte's corporate consciousness is invaded by a strapping female member of the Los Angeles Police Department, who herself morphs into a taffeta-clad vision of Ella in her pomp.
There are some interesting advantages to be gained in fielding such a lot of Lottes: her ability to sing complex, five-part harmonies with herself for a start. And Sirett - whose past credits include the Sinatra-inspired Rat Pack Confidential - pulls off the notable feat of creating a sophisticated textual experiment with genuine popular appeal.
Cash-in compilation shows are hardly thin on the ground, but Sirett presents a perceptive interplay of melody and monologue, effortlessly oscillating between the northeast of England and the west coast of America - a journey given additional credibility by the fact that Ella flew over to play a gig at Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough, in the early 1970s.
Sirett's play will also be welcomed for providing six substantial parts for women, though they all have to approximate one of the greatest jazz voices of the past century, which narrows things down a bit. The Tyneside contingent of Max Roberts's production come pretty close, but they are blown away by the sensational American R&B star Victoria Wilson-James, who delivers a word-perfect account of Fitzgerald forgetting the words to Mack the Knife.
Imogen Cloet's authentic piano bar setting and Naadia Sheriff's swinging accompaniment complete a ravishing evening that really does take you to Ella and back.
· Until April 23. Box office: 0191-232 1232.
