Chicago

Chicago's a funny sort of smash hit musical.

On one hand, the combination of Kander and Ebb's smouldering soundtrack, iconic costume design and Fosse-inspired choreography has been drawing capacity crowds for the past ten years.

On the other, there's always been something slightly incongruous about seeing this most intimate, sophisticated of musicals (originally subtitled A Musical Vaudeville) performed in a huge theatre. There are high kicks, but no jazz hands; brassy solo numbers but no wide-eyed heroine gazing earnestly into the middle distance.

The actress playing femme fatale Roxie Hart is required to seduce the audience rather than win hearts, so the casting of the lads' mag favourite Jennifer Ellison was a smart move. Her vocals may be no match for Dawn Spence as Velma Kelly, but this is as it should be - after all, Roxie's a wannabe while Velma's a pro - and what she lacks in lung power Ellison makes up for with sizzling stage presence.

While shows such as West Side Story and Saturday Night Fever demand large stages to accommodate synchronised ensemble casts, Chicago works better on a far smaller scale, and the decision here to have the band on stage is a wise one.

Rob Marshall's fabulous Oscar-winning film was always going to be a hard at to follow in terms of energy and clarity, but the grotesque circus of the stage show's Razzle Dazzle is more effective than any number of quick edits and trapeze acrobatics.

The grand finale lacks a certain spark, and isn't as tightly synchronised as it should be. That said, it's another of Chicago's unconventional quirks that the show starts, rather than finishes, with a bang.