Rain Man the stage show? Is this some sort of musical that’s slipped through the West End sparkly loop hole, doesn’t the normal order go – book, play, film and then finally the t-shirt. Not film followed by the play that’s all wrong, but importantly…does it work?

Well, musical it isn’t thankfully and there’s no sign of Whoopi Goldberg stuffed into a nun’s habit in the wings. Although the cast does have a few star names in it., well not so much stars as twinkles. And there’s nothing more uneasy than watching our nearest and dearest soap stars out of their box and live on stage. A titter runs round as the stalls are a murmur with “isn’t that..”…”oh he’s a lot shorter than I thought…”is that Jim from Coronation Street “ and they’d be right on every whisper.  It’s a semi studded, semi impressive cast –  Neil Morrissey, (that guy from Men Behaving Badly infamy), Oliver Chris (that handsome guy from The Office pub quiz  episode) and Charlie “soap legend” Lawson. All live on stage and slicing the ham thick.  And the moment we’ve all been waiting for… the hold on to your seat moment –  when Neil Morrissey first appears on stage as Raymond Babbit– this could go either way at this point. It could be, not even toe curlingly bad, but leg curlingly hideous or quite the other end of the scale – a rather pleasurable experience.  It’s roughly round about the middle somewhere.

A satisfying  way to spend an evening not in front of the telly – although watching people from the telly that are not in your living room.

Not comfortable and yet not uncomfortable. Kind of like wearing your underpants the wrong way round on a Monday. Then of course there’s the other issue of the movie, and of course try as you might, you can’t but help make comparisons. And it has to be said there are a few moments when you do find yourself wondering just how many times they watched the DVD during rehearsals and worshipped at the fountains of the Hoffman/Cruise knowledge. All in all, the set is slick and sleek, the pace is punchy, it’s a gentle story and it works. There’s no 12 Oscars or award winning performances here, but as some candy floss for the senses it certainly is a satisfying  way to spend an evening not in front of the telly – although watching people from the telly that are not in your living room.

At the King’s Theatre then touring…