Cry-Baby, LPD and Hayes Theatre Co, Hayes Theatre

"Cry-Baby" is a show that got a bit of a rough deal on Broadway. Being the second attempt at a John Waters musical on broadway (with the same script team as "Hairspray", but a different composing team), comparisons were perhaps inevitable, and, for good or evil, this doesn't quite have the slickness of "Hairspray" - it feels like it has a lot more John Waters in it, with bad taste in abundance, and it's a lot more cynical about its social messages than "Hairspray" is. Further away, though, what you see is a show that is thoroughly wild fun - a broadranging satire on the conflict between the ultra-conservative "Squares" and the wildly unonventional "Drapes", with a sweet love story in the middle. Mark O'Donnell' and Thomas Meehan's script is quippy, fast and hilarious, and while the songs by Adam Schlesinger and David Javerbaum are mostly pastiche, the lyrics are consistently clever (and if they get a little thesaurausy here and there, they do at least recognise it and make ufn of that as well)

THe first thing to note, perhaps, is how Isabel Hudson's set design has largely solved the problems of the tiny Hayes THeatre stage by, counter-intuitively, shrinking the stage still further into a tiny box with a couple of surprise doors here and there. There's a deliberate choice by director Alexander Berlage's to have the Squares spend most of their time "inside the box" while the out-there-Drapes can use the trapdoors to intrude on the sterile perfection that the Squares aspire to. There's constant playful choices that maximise the fun, and the show moves like gangbusters - you're never waiting too long for the next good bit.

The cast is a consistently game ensemble of 14. Everybody's perfect for what they're doing - whether it be our dopey rockabilly hero, "the most popular loner in town" played to sweet perfection by Christian Charisiou; our heroine the all-american-girl-who-wants-to-break-out played by Ashleigh Rubenach, her grandmother the perfectly poised ettiquette godess played by Beth Daly, the too-perfect-to-be-true boyfriend Baldwin played with increasing psychosis by Joel Grange, the crazed stalker Lenora played by a utterly batshit Laura Murphy, or the rest who bounce in and out of characters on either side of the Drape/Square divide (also hopping genders with abandon). And along with all the spoofiness there's a dear-god-yes-it-is all out assult on a blockbuster production number with act-two's "A Little Upset" which combines staging, choreography and musical performance to hit that delight that only exceptional musical theatre can really give you. Music Director Nicholas Griffin gives us a five person ensemble that really rocks the joint, and all round this is just the best fun I'm probably going to have in a musical this year. Deliriously good.