Pal Joey is less a coherent musical than a two-hour excuse to air a couple of classic numbers: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered and I Could Write a Book. Revivals are rare; this one coincides with the 100th anniversary of Richard Rodgers's birth. John O'Hara compiled the book from a series of short stories first published in the New Yorker magazine. These bite-sized episodes made a popular monthly read, but add up to one of the worst-organised narratives in musical theatre.
Yet there was something about these cynical tales of a Chicago nightclub hustler and his collection of trophy dames that appealed to the dark side of Rodgers's partnership with lyricist Lorenz Hart. The early Hart collaborations were generally sourer in tone than Rodgers's more palettable later work with Oscar Hammerstein II, but here the pair seemingly surpassed themselves to produce the musical equivalent of sucking a lemon.
A good production of Pal Joey is really a triumph over adversity, and Phil Willmott's strongly cast revival, co-produced with the Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, gets all the basics right, being built on sturdy performances and outstanding renditions of those two great songs. Des Coleman cuts a suave, dapper figure as the chancer Joey; his characterisation bursts into life in his duet with Rae Baker's coy pet-shop girl, Linda English. A couple of numbers later he has erased the memory and fallen for the trust fund of a smouldering society vamp, Vera Simpson, played with cool authority by Kathryn Evans. Her simmering Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered is an incontestable highlight.
The rest of the cast contribute lustily. Georgina Field unassumingly blows sax with the band in the first half and does an explosive strip in the second. Lindsey Danvers is great value as the caustic chorus girl, Gladys. Michael Mawby looms large as grizzled club-owner Mike. But the performances are made to sound as if they are being broadcast through a transistor radio, while Nigel Hook's set wouldn't last an evening in the windy city without blowing away. All in all, Pal Joey is a bewildering choice, but bewitching if you can be bothered.
· Until April 27. Box office: 0115-941 9419.
