"Done, for theatre cognoscenti!/Done, so we can pay the rent-y!" At least this hit theatre spoof from New York knows its own limitations. The idea is simple: Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart's show takes one basic plot, about a young woman, her boyfriend and her nasty landlord, and re-tells it five times in the style of different musical theatre composers. An extended showbiz in-joke, The Musical of Musicals might benefit from a sharper wit and a looser, less repetitive structure. But it will be hugely enjoyed by guys and dolls dedicated to musical theatre.
The four-strong cast seize on the satire with gusto, baring their teeth like bona fide hoofers, or like wolves. Their task may sometimes be thankless. Bogart's lyrics can strain to shoehorn in name-checks and famous phrases, or to crack lame jokes at the expense, for example, of a character called Big Willy. But, in director Julian Woolford's spartan production, the actors savour the silliness of the whole enterprise, as when Geoffrey Abbott's phantom of the opera figure gets grumpy at the excess of dry ice.
At is best, then, The Musical of Musicals takes infectious pleasure in sending up ridiculously easy targets. In a sketch in which the landlord is a frustrated artist plotting to assassinate his tenant, Stephen Sondheim is mocked for his erudition, his tunelessness and his psychological complexity - "Sometimes I think I'm having a thought/But then I realise I'm not".
In the most uproarious skit, the musicals of Hello, Dolly! composer Jerry Herman are exposed as shameless star vehicles; meanwhile, Andrew Lloyd Webber is lampooned for his light-fingered way with opera: "It may sound just a teeny/Like something by Puccini". Rockwell's musical pastiches of Lloyd Webber, however, seldom hit the mark.
Its inflexible format subjects the show to the law of diminishing returns, and interest is waning by the closing Kander and Ebb spoof ("Ola! Aloha! Hello!|") But, if it won't necessarily dazzle the musical agnostic, this likeable send-up remains some enchanted evening for die-hard showbiz devotees.
· Until April 22. Box office: 0870 890 0503.
