Five Guys Named Moe

Music by: Louis Jordan Written and directed by: Clarke Peters Marble Arch Theatre, Marble Arch, London W1 (0333-344 4167) Until 17 February Running time: 2hrs (including interval)

Back in the 1990s, this jumping, fizzing, quintessentially feel-good jukebox musical – which showcases the songs of the jazz and R&B pioneer Louis Jordan – took the West End and then Broadway by storm, said Tim Auld in The Daily Telegraph. Now it’s back in a lavish new production directed by the show’s creator Clarke Peters (of The Wire fame) in a specially built tented theatre. The classy venue has been pimped out with Southern-style wrought-iron columns and a bar where you can sip a mint julep or bourbon sour, said Sam Marlowe in The Stage – and this “scorching” production is just as “slick and stylish”. Everyone on stage has “charisma to burn”. The singing and dancing are sublime, and the band are “as tight as a pair of shiny new shoes” – and “thrillingly alive to the wit and energy” of Jordan’s jazzy hits.

There’s no story to speak of, said Daisy Bowie-sell on Whatsonstage.com. Five guys, all named Moe, “inexplicably pop out of the radio” belonging to a sixth guy – a down and out heartbroken drunk by the name of Nomax – and croon songs to help sort out his love life. “Not much plot, but goodness it’s got sass, soul and sex appeal.” This is not so much a musical as a “rock and roll variety night where actors at the top of their game” inject each number with drama and excitement. And Andrew Wright’s choreography “is a marvel”. Sure, the set-up is a touch contrived, but it really does “make you yearn for those smoky rock and roll bars where music was played all night by the best performers around. Those joints may not exist anymore,” but Five Guys does and it’s “the closest you’re going to get to the real thing”. It is, in sum, a “night of total fun”.

I loved the show’s passion and zing, said Ann Treneman in The Times. The musical staging and choreography are brilliant and precise. And you will struggle to get Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby? out of your head afterwards. But a word of warning: there is “more than a smidgen of cabaret and, sigh, audience participation here” which includes a conga. That ain’t my bag: be ready to take evasive action if it ain’t yours. The week’s other opening Prism Hampstead Theatre, London NW3 (020-7722 9301). Until 14 October Robert Lindsay is “magnetic” as the celebrated cinematographer Jack Cardiff, who looks back over his life from Alzheimer’s-affected old age in Terry Johnson’s slightly “bumpy” but ultimately moving play (Guardian).