The 1970s was an age of various musical happenings. There was the glam rock of bands such a T-Rex, the psychedelic rock of Pink Floyd and Yes, and then, of course, there was the unmistakable soul inspired sound of funk and disco. "Oh! What A Night" seeks to bring a slice of those funky beats into the first decade of the 21st Century, and succeeds in style.

The story centres around Rik, a young Irishman who has moved to New York in the hope of becoming "The next John Lennon", and ends up working behind the bar at the local night-club, Infernos. He falls in love with Nikki, the daughter of the club's manager, Paul Burns. However, Nikki has just become engaged to Jack Vettriano, who in turn is secretly plotting to con Paul into giving him ownership of the club. At the same time, the struggling club has just been named as the venue for dancing auditions for a certain '70s movie set in New York ("Oh, and I just heard we managed to sign the Bee Gees for the soundtrack" says the movie's casting director Roxie Rochelle), thus giving them a lifeline. Eventually, Rik foils the baddy and gets the girl. Hooray!

"Starring Kid Creole!" says the TV ad, and "starring" is the right word. As Brutus T Firefly, Infernos' DJ, Kid Creole also acts as a medium between the audience and the show itself. Of course, the plot being so predictable and off-the-peg as it is, it was never going to be the main attraction of this show. No, that accolade goes to the music, and what music. The show starts to the strains of Isaac Hayes' legendary funk anthem, "Theme From Shaft", and just gets better from there. It includes hits from James Brown, Abba, The Village People and too many more to name. In fact, the only act missing which would have completed a line-up of pure Seventies funk were Earth, Wind & Fire.

Through the first Act the audience were left somewhat under whelmed, but things started to kick off with "YMCA" right before the interval, and continued with "Car Wash" afterwards, the second Act making the show worth the money. It was never going to get us up and dancing the aisles - the gaps between songs were too long and the meaningful bits too frequent (there must have been at least two) for that, but the encore got the entire theatre groovin' on down. If only I could have been there for the real Seventies and been able to wear a suit like Brutus T Firefly's! The show as a whole was great fun, the music in the second Act more than making up for the first Act and the narrative throughout. Besides, a decent plot would have detracted from the rest of the show! The sets were brilliant, the lights spectacular, the costumes fantastic, and the cast beautiful. Did I mention the music?

All in all, if you're looking for theatre that forces you to think long and hard and deeply about something, this isn't the show to go for (but check out "A Bitter Herb" - review also by me!). However, if you want a night of high enjoyment to gear yourself up for the upcoming tour of "Saturday Night Fever", this is exactly the right show to go and see. I cannot stress this enough - get on the phone and order tickets now. The number's at the top of this page.