Review: The Music Man - Festival Theatre, Chichester

You could sense the speculation at Chichester as a sophisticated audience gave Brian Conley the once-over.

Should he have been entrusted with the title role, would he lapse into a catch-line from a sketch show or even worse, a sit com? Would he prove the genuine article?

Well the verdict of the mayor of River City, a community that Conley's character has come to swindle, proved the last word: "This man is a spellbinder."

And if there were question marks over his technical ability, the doubters should have heeded the music man's own advice: "Singing is only sustained talking."

Well known songs tumble out but the directing team left the piece with enough room to breathe.

Their treatment of the opening Rock Island number showed strong rap influences and you simply knew that if rap had been a bit older, this is how the piece would have been written.

Musically the evening was impeccable, and playing Conley's love interest, Scarlett Strallen avoided the cardinal error of treating her big moments as ballads, making sure they came across as simple statements of fact.

Director Rachel Kavanaugh was respectful of the text but not over-reverential, having the good sense to change an archaic running gag about Abraham Lincoln into something more meaningful.

I had only one criticism of Kavanaugh's approach, this being her compulsion to play to the front of the house and almost wilful disregard of the sightlines for people sitting elsewhere on the three-sided thrust stage.

A turning-point of the plot occurs when a withdrawn boy is touched by the magic of the band and bursts into song.

Sadly the moment would have been lost on many since the youngster was positioned far too close to the front of the performance space.

Otherwise the production had maximum impact with every piece of scenery being moved by the cast, dropped in or presented on a revolve. But whatever the merits of the staging, ultimately this was a master class by an extraordinarily talented individual in how to light up a theatre.

The Music Man plays at the Festival Theatre, Chichester, until 30 August.

Dates and times vary, see www.cft.org.uk or telephone 01243 781312