I saw this on Wednesday night! It was very minimalist - 80% of the stage was occupied by the orchestra. This may be normal in musicals; I don’t exactly see many. Despite (or perhaps because of) using about 7 props in total and dressing the characters in little more than a jacket and knickers, it was visually striking. I wished continuously that they’d allow photography. It was beautiful.

I absolutely loved the conductor, Garth Hall. Such a physically dominant orchestra had to play some part in the performance. They got it exactly right. The best part of the whole show was when Roxie climbs the steps into the middle of the orchestra holding a newspaper, gushing over her being the headline. She hands it to the conductor, who says, face turned away from the audience, ever so quietly, in an American dumb-henchman’s accent: “Hey, it is you.”

Perhaps you had to be there.

After, we spotted Ian Kelsey slipping out of the back door dressed down in a leather jacket and baseball cap, with a stack of advert thingies under his arm. He drove off in a black Porsche, pulling his hat down. Poor thing.