ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER Union Theatre, London SW1

The Union has the laudable policy of reviving musicals by famous lyricists and composers which West End producers are unlikely to stage again. This flawed musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane, which premiered in New York in 1965 to tepid reviews, is barely even mentioned in Lerner’s autobiography, except to say that he has a penchant for fantasy and that he has always been interested in psychoanalysis, hypnosis, extra-sensory perception and reincarnation. The weak story-line concerns a psychiatrist’s patient, who can foresee the future, anticipate phone calls and persuade plants to grow by talking to them. Whilst under hypnosis, she recalls her former life as an 18th century belle when she ran away from her husband, a promiscuous portrait-painter. The Union doesn’t have the financial resources to provide period costumes and so the flashbacks lack lustre.