The former teen idol's latest hit musical had drawn a full house comprising - in the main - one-time 60s rock chicks and their partners .... now more cashmere and silk than leather and denim.

All the Fun of the Fair is a sweet n'sour spectacle heavy with emotion, sparkling with sharp dialogue and the best-lit production I have seen in the theatre for a long time, thanks to Guy Hoare whose operatic and dance credentials shine through.

Colin Richmond's melancholy stage sets drew sharp intakes of breath, particularly the dodgems manoeuvring around the small stage (remember how the louche lads used to climb aboard, fag in mouth, to steer you out of trouble) and old-fasioned whirligig horses.

During Levi's Wall of Death performance headlights from three motorbikes dazzled the audience while strobes rotated like searchlights and the stage filled up with smoke.

Writer Jon Conway's story casts David as the owner of an old-fashioned funfair in 1978.

Burdened with guilt over the death of his wife - triggered, he fears, because of his affair with the circus fortune teller - he tries to keep his son Jack (Paul-Ryan Carberry) on the straight and narrow.

Almost finally, the pair recognise the value of their father-son relationship - and then, well you'll have to catch up with it in Brighton until Sunday (October 11) or travel to Woking or Dartford later this year and find out. Take your hanky.

David's gravitas is balanced measure for measure by his excellent supporting cast and features songs from his extensive backlist where songs support the storyline.

Father and Son, A Winter's Tale and It's Gonna be Allright are perfect.

A peach of a production, it travels throughout the UK next Spring and looks a dead cert for a West End transfer.

Susan King