This show was anything but fantastic for me I’m afraid. Supposedly one of the longest-running musicals of all time tonight’s performance had its moments but for the most part I just couldn’t wait to get out of there.

The story is a kind of Romeo and Juliet in reverse – fathers of neighbouring youngsters fall upon an idea that in order to get their children together they needed to concoct a fued between the families. Teenagers, after all, are known best for rebelling against what their parents want and if their parents don’t want them to get together, then inevitably they’ll find some way to do so. To ensure the romance moves forward the fathers even go so far as to hire a magician, possibly the only character in the whole play that you could like, to “abduct” the daughter so the boy could “rescue” her. It goes well until the end of the first half before the ploy slowly unravels afterwards.

Characters are unsavoury and though the actors try hard they end up being more annoying than endearing. I did like the simplicity of the stage and the use of a dancer to embody the changes in scenery.