Guys and Dolls

It hasn't taken long for the Donmar's acclaimed production of Frank Loesser's musical to break out on tour. And while its commercial success in London was clearly due in large part to Ewan McGregor in a lead role, the show has certainly been given new life by director Michael Grandage.

Here, the leading men are once again the draw - ex-EastEnder Shaun Williamson as wheeler-dealer Nathan Detroit and Darius Danesh as smooth-talker Sky Masterson.

Williamson makes a teddy-bear gangster of Detroit - playing up the character's loveable traits and forming a cute couple with eternal fiancee Adelaide (the perky Louise Dearman).

The latter's vaudeville acts, while lacking the pizzazz expected of a big-budget musical, are suitably low-rent - the lights of Broadway may shine down on these souls, but their lives are a long way from 42nd Street.

If Danesh fails to spark with his love interest (Lynsey Britton's charmingly expressive Salvation Army sergeant Sarah Brown), it's partly because he towers so comically over everyone else in the cast. However, it's also partly because when he talks of chemistry, it sounds like he could be teaching a science class.

A lack of conviction renders Luck Be A Lady a disappointing imitation of the breathlessly exciting experience it should be, but leaves Christian Patterson's Nicely Nicely Johnson and the rest of the cast to bring down the house with a storming Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat.

Such is the almost fool-proof quality of the Guys and Dolls score - other memorable numbers include I'll Know, Adelaide's Lament and I've Never Been in Love Before - that even with a few flat notes and rushed lines, it still makes for a hugely enjoyable night of musical theatre.