WHEN you gotta go, you gotta go, and you gotta go to the Civic Theatre this week for a show which more than lives up to its blurb “a magical night at the musicals”.

In just over two hours, seven performers, backed by four musicians, cover about 50 shows.

That’s slightly fewer than the number of years I’ve been enjoying musical theatre – we’ll get the bias out of the way now – and this show is like opening a box of chocolates and finding all your favourite centres, as first night applause indicated.

Even if the show is unfamiliar, the song is not. Buck Privates may have been forgotten, but not its Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Where the show is familiar, we get the plums, including Oom Pah Pah (Oliver!), Flash Bang Wallop (Half a Sixpence), Money Money Money (Mamma Mia), and Defying Gravity (Wicked).

Teamwork is smooth as the three men and four women share duets and ensembles, as well as all featuring as soloists.

Nick Winston’s choreography is exciting, inventive and athletic; to perform it with such precision while singing with verve, is 22- carat entertainment. Oh, and they manipulate all their own props, too. And roller skate.

This show goes a long way towards explaining why musicals dominate the West End stage and why there isn’t room for one straight play on Broadway this week. But where were Annie, South Pacific, The Goodbye Girl, On the Town ... there’s at least another 50.

Next year?

Last performances are tomorrow.

Gill Wootten