They specialise in hymns to lyricists at this Islington dinner-theatre. But, after the genuine discoveries of last year's Dorothy Fields Forever, this celebration of Johnny Mercer is largely an amiable stroll down memory lane. And, as Mercer's domain was more Tin Pan Alley than Broadway, you don't get that sense of venturing into the arcana of theatrical legend.
Alvin Rakoff, who wrote and directed, has also resorted to the old bio-show format, in which the songs are used to tell the story of the life. So, since Mercer was born in the southern Bible-belt, we see a Savannah preacher somewhat improbably launching into a vivacious rendition of Accentuate the Positive. When the married Mercer is instantly smitten by Judy Garland, it becomes the clumping cue for That Old Black Magic. But the search to find a dramatic context for the songs becomes positively surreal when, in the course of Something's Gotta Give, Mercer is swept off his feet by a large man in a ginger wig and green frock.
What survives, however, are the songs themselves. Like all good songwriters, Mercer adapted his talents to a wide variety of composers. His special gift was for mixing the urban sophistication of numbers like One for My Baby and Blues in the Night with lyrics that harked back to a world of whippoorwills, skylarks and huckleberries. The show goes some way towards explaining this, by suggesting Mercer was a natural Georgian driven by a need to pay off his lawyer father's debts.
Even if the show keeps to the well-trodden musical highways, it is dashingly staged. The cast of four are lavishly costumed by Jane Kidd. Jo Stewart on piano and Steve Rossell on double bass give the numbers a rhythmic kick, and Andrew Halliday (as the songwriter) and Alexandra Jay deliver the songs with effortless ease and style. When they are on stage, as they are most of the time, you could say that the quality of Mercer is definitely not strained.
· Until February 2. Box office: 020-7226 1916.
