The Pyjama Game at Shaftesbury Theatre was cute

I often start my theatre write-ups saying something about how I had forgotten why I had booked to see that particular show by the time that I got to see it, but not this time.

The reason that I wanted to see The Pyjama Game is because I remembered enjoying the film adaptation when I watched it about forty years ago! Possibly not the strongest excuse for going but good enough for me.

This was another group event with friends and the evening started with a curry just around the corner from the theatre. Always a good start to an evening.

I had booked the tickets quite late so we were just over half-way back in the stalls. I was in seat O11 which had a face value of £63 but I paid half that. Looking around the audience I suspect that not many people, if any, paid the original asking price and even with the reduction the theatre was only two-thirds full. I suspect that the headline price had put people off as there was nothing wrong with the show.

I had remembered the gist of the story but had forgot almost all of the detail so I was seeing it afresh. I was quickly engaged with the characters and keen to find out what happened to them, even though the main there was obvious (as it should be).

I surprised my self by recognising a couple of the songs too, and one of these, Once a Year Day, was my highlight of the evening.

There were more themes, or sub-plots, than I remembered and there was always a lot happening to keep me engaged with the story.

The dancing was another strong point and the production went out of its way to make the most of the material that it had to work with. It kept to the standard musical formula, which has been proven many times, to deliver a show that was good simple, clean fun and highly entertaining.