Jet Set Go!

I truly thought "Xanadu" would be the campest show I'd ever see. "Jet Set Go!" seems to think otherwise. High art this ain't, in fact it's ninety minutes of pure tosh, but who cares when you're having such a great time.

Buried in the tiny Jermyn Street Theatre, you'd never expect to find such an energetic show just waiting to take off. The microscopic stage should look cramped with the eight performers dashing about like, incredibly camp, chickens but it's a testament to the choreography that somehow it never does. The songs by Pippa Cleary aren't exactly revolutionary but they're light and breezy in a derivative sort of way and the main theme is a catchy ditty that I was still humming as I left the theatre. It's the text that really drives the show, a continuous stream of witty, bitchy jokes that almost invariably hit their targets. The characters themselves are hardly well rounded but they're a likeable bunch of stereotypes, with all the predictable flaws creating entirely predictable, but amusing drama.

The cast look like they're having a great time and it rubs off. John McManus is simply hysterical as the almost too gay, Ryan. Despite being a dreadful stereotype he still manages almost the only note of pathos in the evening with a quietly poignant moment just before the piece's conclusion. Mark Evans has a lovely singing voice although his character was the dullest of the lot. Amy Coombes's heavy welsh accent gets her a half dozen laughs before she even starts singing and she's gifted the funniest song of the night, one that almost brought down the house. The two pilots made for a great double act; the sarcastic Philip Riley and naive Tim Driesden milking the setting for all its worth. Danielle Corlass had a couple of dodgy vocal moments but mostly has a rather fine voice and her gormless behaviour never failed to make me laugh.

This will never change the world, although with a title like "Jet Set Go!" what was I really expecting? The lack of substance does cause the show to drag a little in its latter stages but there's enough here to just about sustain the ninety minute running time. Slickly staged, well performed and always entertaining but just lacking in a little heart. An airline musical probably isn't a very hard sell (who wouldn't want to see such a thing?) but if you've got a free evening this is worth checking out. Maybe grab a pint beforehand though.