★★★★★ As well as sweeping us up with Puccini’s glorious melodies throughout this performance, the singers’ understated body language always gave their performances plausibility. This was a memorable night at the Hippodrome – there were cries and roars of approval, and no doubt a few tears, at the final curtain.

★★★☆☆ Combining the music and lyrics of Ray Davies with Joe Penhall’s biographical book of the singer songwriter, Sunny Afternoon tells the story of The Kinks getting their break in the music business and their subsequent travails with managers, money men and unions, on an upward but sometimes tempestuous trajectory to rock’n’roll fame.

★★★★☆ My instinct was to compare stage and film versions, having loved the movie directed by Alan Parker back in 1991. The staged version remains true to all the main characters, but has a tendency to fast forward the more subtle interchanges between them. With 10 more songs than feature in the film to get through, relationships tended to be sudden, rather than evolve, in order for the production to push on to the next foot stomping hit.