I MISSED Blues In The Night last Christmas but heard great things about it. This re-cast revival gives a good idea of what all the fuss was about and why the show has been brought back by popular demand.

Geraldine Connor's sexily shimmering production has four performers singing the blues - The Lady, The Woman, The Girl and The Saloon Singer. There's a bit of dramatic interplay between them but the songs, a selection of jazz and blues numbers from the 1920s and 1930s, are the thing.

This is no static concert-style production but a lively and colourful staging, with the four-piece band led by MD Stephen Cole at the centre of the action.

The need to work the two separate sections of the audience - one in front, the other behind - means the performers have to keep on the move, with some of the lyrics getting lost along the way.

Sheilah Cuffy is outrageous as The Lady, whose trunk full of memories triggers off some of the show's most exuberant numbers. Josie Benson's The Woman is full of passion and pain, while Louise Rose's The Girl is sexy and seductive. And, ladies beware, Marvin Springer's Saloon Singer is not afraid to have his wicked way with a woman in the front row.

* Until January 29. Tickets 0113-213 7700.

Published: 20/12/2004