Remember Tim Flavin and Makarova in this in 1984 before Les Mis took up residence at the Palace. Slight but fun.

Well, to put it mildly, YES, YES and YES again!

Is there no end to the prodigious talent of Mr Cooper? The lady sitting next to me said "You're in for a treat - it's my second time". Well, that to me was an understatement....

But the ex-RB principals were up there and enjoying themselves. Irek was his usual flashing-eyed and charming self, delivering his lines deadpan and with great humour. Marguerite Porter was in excellent shape. But Adam was a revelation. His singing voice is something to be reckoned with. What little I'd seen of his acting abilities had something to do with Madame Bovary - and at the time I thought - Oh dear. But this is something quite else. His American accent is spot on and his body language superb. But this isn't all. He dominates the stage with his tap-dancing skills, though maybe his classical technique isn't all that it should be, but the limitations of the Leicester Haymarket stage inhibit both he and Irek. The orchestra is set in the middle of the stage and how none of the dancers fell into it onto the heads of the musicians was nothing short of a miracle.

The 'On Your Toes' set piece was a beautiful blend of classical and jazz and the finale 'Slaughter' just breathtaking. See it in Leicester before it ends on 25th May if you can. But I just hope it will get to be seen elsewhere.

But maybe, given Adam's performance in this show, he has just got to be highly sought after for other projects and unlikely to tour, but maybe a Sadlers Wells season? Who knows.

Finished with the gushing now... Sorry.

Brendan and I made the journey to Leicester on Friday to see Adam, Irek and Marguerite Porter do their stuff. An added bonus was a short discussion session with some of the cast afterwards. Like the critics say, Adam can do it all – sing, dance (tap, contemporary, ballet), and act – and at the same time! The spoof of Scheherazade at the end of the first act was for us the highlight of the performance with Irek giving his all as the golden slave. We thought Act II’s closing ballet, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, a little lacking in power, and, if the play were to transfer to London, it probably needs more thought. For us, though, the real revelation was Porter, who has legs that go on forever. Considering that she left the Royal in 1986, she is in great shape. The production values are first rate.

At the “talk back” session (not attended by the three stars, although the director Julian Kelly was there), it was announced that the box office target for the show had been met at that Friday’s performance (the show finishes on 25th May). Kelly said that it was too early to say if the show would go anywhere else.

Kelly also mentioned that he had been approached by the Rogers and Hart estate about a year ago saying that they wanted to get one of their shows produced (as opposed to a Rogers and Hammerstein production of which there have been several). The show business tom toms worked fast on that occasion, as on the same day he was contacted by Adam’s agent who said he might be interested. They met and the deal was done, although at that time Kelly did not know if Adam could act or sing. He also said that if Adam had not said yes, he would not have done the show.

The one other morsel gleaned was that everyone in the cast is honing their Russian accents from listening to Irek during the coffee breaks.