THE team behind this American jazz-pop pageant are out to prove a simple point: the world may be awash with state-of-the-art, multimedia entertainment, but there really is no substitute for the kick-in-the-pants vitality of live music.

A warning for those of a nervous, avant-garde disposition: the following contains concepts such as "family entertainment" and "show business". And "music theatre", a term that encompasses everything from Bob Fosse to Harrison Birtwistle, via the Tubes, Frank Denyer and Bill Bailey (who could probably work wonders with Sir Harry's Gawain). In the contemporary music field, it can result in works such as Karlheinz Stockhausen's Harlekin - which requires a solo clarinet player to prance around in harlequin costume.