Jule Styne's musical version of the classic 1959 Billy Wilder movie Some Like it Hot didn't last long on Broadway where it premiered in 1972, and disappeared almost without trace in a London version starring Tommy Steele. But there is no need to be lukewarm about this revival that tells the cross-dressing tale of two 1920s Chicago musicians who, on witnessing a St Valentine's Day-style gangland massacre, flee to Miami disguised as members of an all-girl band. With the baddies in pursuit, one finds himself falling for the band's platinum blonde lead singer, Sugar Cane, while the other becomes the object of a multi-millionaire's desire.
"Nobody's perfect," says the millionaire understandingly when she confesses to really being a he. This evening isn't perfect either, but after a lacklustre start, Peter Rowe's production hits all the right notes - particularly the comic ones - and although the evening is the lightest of confections, it has oodles of charm.
At the off, the production lacks attitude, and the leads seem too much in the shadows of Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe who starred in the movie, but the trio (Rosie Jenkins, Ian Conningham and Ben Fox) soon develop their own chemistry and play off each other very well in the second, much pacier half. The score with its jazzy, 20s style is good fun, if not always memorable, although there is pleasure to be had from several numbers, notably one called I'm Engaged that has the giddiness of My Fair Lady's I Could Have Danced All Night, and which also succeeds in casually rhyming "delirium" with "Presbyterian".
Rowe has some delightful touches including some villainous tap-dancing hoodlums whose feet refuse to keep still even when they're dead. No, it is not the Producers, but it is a lively, unaffected evening with a big, sweet heart.
· Until October 8. Box office: 01473 295900. Then at Clwyd Theatr Cymru.
