Even a computer glitch that called a halt to the performance for over half an hour couldn't put the dampers on Paul Kerryson's exuberant revival of Rodgers and Hart's 1936 musical comedy, which sashays along very nicely as an unusual and teasing mix of the sexy, sassy and satirical. There are not many musical love songs that begin: "It's got to be love/ It couldn't be tonsillitis/ It feels like neuritis."
Originally choreographed by George Balanchine, this show, which has not had a major revival in this country for almost 20 years, is often dubbed the ballet lover's musical, on account of its final jazz ballet sequence Slaughter on 10th Avenue.
In fact it takes a rather wry look at the artistic temperament: it tells the story of dancer-turned-music professor Junior Dolan, who finds himself mixed up with a Russian ballet company visiting New York. He ends up caught between jealous prima ballerina Vera Baronova and her philandering lover Sergi. Irek Mukhamedov plays the thoroughly nasty Sergi to the hilt - a real hunk with the hump.
This is a show that demands great dancers. It has them here in Mukhamedov, Marguerite Porter as Vera (exquisite dancing but not nearly scheming enough) and Adam Cooper, who not only makes his musical debut as Junior, but choreographs with real panache. Slaughter on 10th Avenue has a liquid quality that makes you feel weak at the knees.
Junior is one of those problematic leading men who are slightly wet behind the ears. Cooper solves the difficulty by playing him as Clark Kent with tap shoes. And boy, can he twinkle. One of the pleasures of the show is Cooper's evident enjoyment of it.
This is a great piece of escapist, feel-good entertainment that director Kerryson and designer Paul Farnsworth succeed in giving a sleek look and a modern gloss.
· Until May 25. Box office: 0116-253 9797.
