3 stars

Fans of Barry Manilow music and/or Chesney Hawkes will probably have loved this show. I am neither and found it ploddingly slow and depressingly uninspired.

Hawkes, best known for his hit The One and Only, plays a musician called Tony Lowiman (get the anagram?), who goes on his stag weekend to New York with fellow band members.

While auditioning there for a reality TV show (how likely would that be on a stag weekend?) he meets a girl called Mandy and there ensues a boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again saga during which he gets beaten to a pulp by some thugs, is left fighting for his life and afterwards has no memory of his fiancée Lucy or the American Mandy.

What there is of a plot unfolds to the songs made famous by Manilow - It's a Miracle, Could It Be Magic? I Write The Songs, Copacabana and so forth.

A major stumbling block of the enterprise is that while Hawkes has undoubted musical talent his acting ability is zilch. He has all the charisma and emotional sincerity of a plank.

Siobhan Dillon - a runner-up in TV's How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? – is glamorous as classy American babe Mandy and has a beautiful voice to match. It's noticeable, though, that every time she's on stage with Hawkes she has to wear flat shoes!

Francesca Jackson, finalist in I'd Do Anything, is the cute little rock chick Lucy who has an obvious stage chemistry with Edward Handoll's sexy Scott. But I did find it rather distasteful that these two were all over each other like a rash and delighted that Tony's brain injury meant he wouldn't remember them or realise their betrayal. Great friends they'd make.

Thank heavens for Howard Samuels and his much-needed injection of comedy as the crazy American Jeff, whose participation in Copacabana almost made sitting through this marathon of mediocrity worth it.

The audience appeared to enjoy the show, but when you compare it to other musicals in a similar vein it falls short.

Diana Eccleston