THIS show was staged by the New Earswick Musical Society - and what a performance it was!

Right from the start it was obvious to the packed theatre that it was to be a show worth settling into the large comfortable seats for.

Set in 1901 Paris, the story is a shortened version of the film Gigi, in which Maurice Chevalier played the role of Honore Lachailles.

Last night it was John Fryer who filled this role admirably.

While not having the sexy French accent and overall presence of Chevalier, he did recreate the character with passion.

The story is narrated by Honore and tells of the passions and sexual encounters of his nephew Gaston Lachailles, played by a wonderfully vocal Stephen Kenwright. Gaston is seen to be the eternal playboy around Paris, loving and leaving mistresses wherever possible.

The title role of Gigi was played by Nicola Pittman, who showed how a gawky innocent teenager grew up and left her fun-loving antics behind to eventually become a woman and "get her man".

There was a lot of humour in the play, which seemed to be missed by the audience, partly due to bad delivery of lines. This was a shame because the lines were funny and, at times, were crucial to the plot.

However, we were very impressed by the clever use of minimalistic scenery, complemented by a huge projected image of Parisian life relating to each scene - all works from the masters of the time.

The singing was superb and the acting professional. In fact everyone, including the brilliantly supple can-can dancers, contributed to a great show.

However, we felt that the final line-up on stage was wrong - changing the last three people on for a final bow to include John Fryer would work better and give him the status he deserved for his input in the show.

Updated: 10:30 Friday, April 08, 2005