REVIEW: Sunny Afternoon, Theatre Royal Brighton, until Saturday, January 3.

There are a couple of glorious minutes towards the end where we hear the song Waterloo Sunset start to take shape, followed by the song itself superbly done –a few minutes which would justify the entire show alone… except the rest of the show is just as good.

This is the show to see this Christmas. I have watched four pantos for work. This one was pure pleasure.

On the sunniest December 20 in memory, Theatre Royal Brighton gave us the sunniest afternoon you could wish for, the Kinks story with all its frustrations, its exploitation, its anguish and its infighting but also with all the genius that made them such a remarkable band.

Danny Horn absolutely captures the essence of Ray Davies with a terrific performance, giving us all the great man’s complexities but crucially all his astonishing songwriting skills. He is also remarkably close to Davies vocally in a role he has returned to ten years after starring in the show in the West End.

And it’s exactly the same with Oliver Hoare, also superb as Ray’s brother Dave, between them the essence of the Kinks but also the archetypes of the great tradition of warring musical brothers. They clash and they clash repeatedly, furiously and bitterly, but out of the chaos of this famously unmanageable band come some of the greatest songs ever written – and they are performed sublimely in the show, with the added benefit of the context that the story gives them.

Zakarie Stokes as Mick Avory and Harry Curley as Pete Quaife complete the band, and what an on-stage band they are. But a big part of the joy of the show is that it all goes so much wider. There’s a lovely performance from Lisa Wright as Rasa, Ray’s wife, and great fun too from Joseph Richardson and Tam Williams as the management. The talent everywhere is phenomenal.

It all ends with the greatest Christmas party you’ll ever attend, a wonderful show which honours a wonderful band. I can’t remember the last time I felt such a palpable buzz from the audience as we all left the theatre. I would happily watch every single performance. Very, very happily in fact.