You hardly have to look far these days to find an upper-crust twit making a mess of things. Fortunately, as Bertie Wooster in this musical adaptation of PG Wodehouse’s novels about the dopey toff’s adventures, Kevin Trainor has more charm than most.
The show – with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber that’s a mishmash pastiche of Rodgers and Hart, Irving Berlin, ragtime and Gilbert and Sullivan and book and lyrics by Alan Ayckbourn – was first produced (unsuccessfully) in 1975 and reworked in 1996.
It remains a convoluted muddle. Bertie is due to delight the villagers at a church fundraiser with a turn on his banjo; when the instrument mysteriously vanishes, the redoubtable Jeeves (Paul M Meston) suggests he recount one of his escapades instead.
All sorts of pointless silliness ensues, but Nick Bagnall’s beguiling production is enlivened by a terrific cast, snappy choreography by Andrew Wright and the enormous charisma of Trainor – not to mention the angel cake and cucumber sandwiches the performers proffer punters. Sweet stuff and nonsense.