High Society

It's to the credit of all involved that this new 'High Society' feels so effortless in its relocating of Cole Porter's 1956 MGM musical (or rather the 1998 stage adaptation) from the world of Rhode Island socialites to that of Hampshire toffs. It was always going to be a good fit, with the filthy rich Lord family perfectly suited to being exaggerated into dotty aristos. It's easier to play them for laughs, most particularly Kirby Hughes's barking-mad Tracy, who provides an ebulliently cartoonish core to the musical's mayhem. Unfortunately she doesn't quite ameliorate the failings of her love interests. Peter Kenworthy's Dexter is blandly suave, with little hint of a troubled past, while the Lords' snobbish aversion to Alex Wadham's George Kittredge - here a bluff ex-miner from Yorkshire - is surely far more ugly and uncomfortable than was intended.

Ultimately, though, these minor problems can't derail the joie de vivre of a funny, vibrant production that underscores the Gatehouse's credentials as one of London's most reliable fringe musical venues. Lee Proud's choreography may be on the restrained side, but it's crisp, comic, and comes with a 'Let's Misbehave' routine that kicks like a drunken mule.