*****

MEN who can sing and dance are a joy.

There are eleven on stage and I'm in eleventh heaven. It gets even better in the second act.

Director Gordon Greenberg and the whole team have done a magnificent job

Guys and Dolls - often citied by critics as the best musical ever - premiered on Broadway in 1950, opening a scintillating decade of post-war American musicals, and a cascade of now pensionable age, memorable, clever, entertaining songs. With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and based on stories by Damon Runyon, Guys and Dolls depicts the life, loves and losses of the gamblers, hustlers and nightclub singers of New York. Luck be a Lady and the show-stopping Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat are probably the best known songs, while the lines of If I Were a Bell might constitute the largest sung-collection of female metaphors for great sex in history.

There are essentially two loves stories: the slow limp of hustler Nathan Detroit’s fourteen year engagement to night club ‘star’ Adelaide, and the rapid, mutually unintended seduction between risky gambler Sky Masterson and Salvation Army Sergeant Sarah Brown. Written with sharp scenes of quick dialogue as everyone hustles to get what they want, the show is much more than a collection of song and dance, and this production delivers the pace and quality to give the audience value for money and send them home humming.

This is yet another show revitalised by the consistently excellent Chichester Theatre. The production carries a sensuality throughout, harnessing the excitement of the game; gambling, loving, drinking, flirting, hustling and telling stories are all part of the effervescence of life, and barred to no one, regardless of age or religious beliefs. As for the game, you just roll a pair of dice; it’s called ‘crap’, apparently.

The cast is superb. Actors Sophie Thompson and David Haig first met professionally as the unlikely couple in the hit film Four Weddings and A Funeral, and rekindle their pairing here, twenty-one years later. Sophie Thompson’s Miss Adelaide is an interesting interpretation. Somewhat past her prime as a singer and dancer, with a hint of burlesque, she’s still discovering more about herself, her man, and their relationship. Her song Adelaide’s Lament, delivered with psychology book in hand, heightens the comedy as she reads to discover a theoretical link between female frustration and respiratory infection. David Haig’s familiar face, brings a great warmth to the role of serial disappointer yet ‘good old, reliable’ Nathan. Haig’s CV of great dramatic roles is short on musicals, so his happy and solid natural performance, which really is ‘good, old and reliable’, comes as a revelation, but not a surprise. Nathan Detroit can be difficult to like, but not with this perfectly-timed performance. You almost believe his wedding-delaying excuses.

.Jamie Parker as Sky Masterson

Siubhan Harrison brings exceptional conviction to the role of Sergeant Sarah Brown, particularly in the scene where she unwittingly allows Havana and Bacardi to summon her inner sensuality. Her singing is rich with emotion, both hidden and unbridled, and her dancing of Acosta’s choreography is superb. Jamie Parker’s Sky Masterson is reminiscent of a young Sinatra, with sultry hints of Marlon Brando at key moments. In his hands Masterson coasts through his confidence to keep on winning, until something really important comes along and he has to fight to achieve it. Parker oozes appeal, even in walking.

There are great performances in smaller roles too. Ian Hughes is a tiny, sprightly Benny Southstreet while Gavin Spokes as Nicely Nicely Johnson does everything much more than nicely, and sings with flair and precision, meeting audience expectations for the showstopper Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat.

Ensemble work is fascinating. The show has had two choreographers, Andrew Wright with a musical theatre track record, and soon-to-retire Royal Ballet dancer Carlos Acosta, whose Cuban-roots influence dominates the Havana scene and flashes incisively elsewhere. The pirouettes as the men spin the dice are simply brilliant, enhancing an already fevered excitement. The orchestration and singing has also been updated, with instrumentation and harmonies underpinning the sense of danger as bets are placed.

So is it all superlatives? Well yes, provided you can ignore outdated gender stereotypes and accept love at virtually first sight, pretty standard requirements for loving most musicals.

It’s one of the best musical productions I’ve seen. Director Gordon Greenberg and the whole team have done a magnificent job.

Manchester, as so often these days, is getting this show before London and the rest of the national tour. Real fans in Manchester could even see it twice if they fancy a trip to Liverpool in March. You can buy a top price ticket in both cities for less than just the one in London. That’s an early Northern Powerhouse offer for you, and one which might just tempt me.

Guys and Dolls plays the Palace Theatre until Sat 21 Nov, then visits the Empire Theatre in Liverpool from 16-19 March.