On the Twentieth Century Review 1996

The show is a classic Musical Comedy of which their are few these days. It is a breath of fresh air to go to a musical and actually laugh...and laugh a lot. Not many of those in Les Mis or Martin Guerre et al. The score by Cy Coleman is a mix of pastiche and good broadway numbers and the small cast do it justice.

What a scoop to get Kathryn Evans to lead. She is superb and camps it up relentlessly as Lily Garland. The whole cast must have enjoyed playing old hams and the feeling of a cast enjoying themselves is more than evident.

Ms Evans has a remarkable voice which is often heard on the larger stages but here it knocks you back in your seat! She is a superb comedienne.

Michael N Harbour as Oscar Jaffee is fine partner for her as the failed producer trying to get Lily back into one of his productions. The other remarkable performance came from Peter Hilton as the "toy boy" lover who is clearly using Lily as his path to stardom...though all that is ever seen of him in the movies (apparently) is the back of his head, and then only briefly. His scenes with Lily were superb examples of the detail that Carol Metcalfe (who also runs the Bridewell) put into the show.

A faultless cast, a near perfect production and a rare chance to see this wonderfully funny musical that makes you remember what musicals were doing before the serious stuff came along.

(Steven Taylor)