BURLESQUE Jermyn Street Theatre

Adam Meggido and Roy Smiles set their musical in 1952 when American burlesque (a showbiz mixture of striptease and comic turns) was in its final death-throes. It was also the era when thousands of people’s lives were being destroyed by Senator McCarthy’s notorious witch-hunt of communists. A comedian, who has been blacklisted and can find employment only in the sleaziest of joints, has to decide whether to co-operate with the FBI and name names or go to prison. The musical has potential; but it still needs a lot of work, if it is to have a longer shelf-life. The more it concentrates on the comedian and his side-kick and their relationship off-stage and on-stage, the better it is. The second half is vastly superior to the first. Jon-Paul Hevey and Chris Holland as the comedians and Linal Haft as a bankrupt theatre owner are excellent.