WHY such a delightful musical as this is not better known is a real mystery. Lionel Bart’s story of two feuding families trying to survive in 1940 war-torn London is told with humour and pathos, and the catchy music has a charm all of its own.
So too does Theatre 2000, and this superb production (director Albert Brown, choreographer Angie Broomfield and musical director Ian Carter) was simply outstanding. Splendid costumes and hairstyles completely captured the period, and the sandbag-strewn set effectively created a wartime scene.
There was plenty of ‘aah’ factor in the ‘evacuees’, over 20 well-drilled children who brought the house down in the show’s only really well-known song, Mums and Dads. And Joan Stones as their schoolteacher managed her own share of scene –stealing with what must have been the funniest walk ever to grace the Regent stage.
Fine characterisations abounded, notably from Adam Myers (Ernie Nearmiss), Andrea Young (Elsie) and Peter Whittaker (Harry Blitztein), but the show’s undoubted stars were Cindy Wells (Mrs Blitztein), Louisa Copperwaite (Carol Blitztein) and Nick Hayes (Georgie Locke), whose sincere, moving and polished performances would be almost impossible to surpass.
I laughed, I cried – and I wished I could have sat through it all again.

Linda Kirkman
Courtesy of the Bournemout Daily Echo