Dreamboats & Petticoats

The leads accompany their renditions of hits such as The Wanderer, Teenager in Love and Only Sixteen on guitar and piano, and the supporting players add brass, wind, percussion and electric violin to the mix. It makes a refreshing change from casts dominated by perfectly toned dancers who join in on the chorus numbers – in a couple of harmony-rich a cappella numbers, every voice counts.

Scott Bruton, who made an early exit from last year's X Factor, takes the lead role of aspiring singer-songwriter Bobby. If he'd been allowed to perform Only the Lonely for the contest he would surely have survived at least one extra week. He's well-matched with fellow newcomer Daisy Wood-Davis, even if the pair are lumbered with what must be some of the least convincing teen chat ever shoe-horned into a script.

Providing the necessary hip-shaking and bottom-wiggling contrast to that pair's virginal innocence are Ben Freeman and Jennifer Biddall as Danny and Rizzo – sorry, Norman and Sue. While the script playfully acknowledges that he is about a decade too old for the part, it really is difficult to buy into either's attendance of a youth club.

A half-hearted framing device involving a girl grilling her grandfather on his teenage sex life is another bum note, but these are unlikely to be details that linger in the minds of those who come for a night of musical nostalgia and go home satisfied.

Reviewed in March 2009. NB cast changes may have since occurred.