One of the longest running musicals in the West End, with production still strong after 20 years. The musical revolves around two fraternal twins separated at birth and the story of their lives up to their tragic deaths. There is a strong underlying theme of nature vs. nurture with the strongly different upbringings of the two. One ends up as an Oxbridge graduate with the other on the dole and experiencing time behind bars. They end up falling for the same girl, the consequences of which adds to the many circumstances surrounding their untimely deaths.

The strong story was overshadowed by the somewhat disappointing performance of the cast. I will not say it was lacklustre, on the contrary, it had much passion and intensity. However, at times it felt that the singing was not quite up to scratch with the added audio effects doing little to cover up this shortfall. Further, the reliance on the sound system did little to improve this impression as it bordered on the loud side with noise and loss of clarity when the songs were of high intensity.

Having said that, the acting was superb for the characters during their younger years with the changing of costumes rather than the cast, a novel but effective way of progressing the age time line.

Despite the vocal shortfall, I did honestly thoroughly enjoy the night out – possibly because it was my sole night out during my graduation week with my parents – and I still recommend you consider the musical as an option if and when you ever do hit London.