Welcome to the house of fun - with Suggs himself as guide Dominic Cavendish for The Daily Telegraph reviews Our House at the Cambridge Theatre.
Too chirpy by half: that was the faintly damning verdict meted out on the Madness musical Our House when it opened last October, and the show has struggled at the box office ever since.
Relaunched now after scooping the Best Musical award at the Oliviers, and with the band's beloved frontman Suggs making his West End debut for one week only in a minor but pivotal role, this time fate seems to be conspiring against its survival: the triple whammy of war, heightened fears about terrorism and a next-to-useless tube system threaten to make stay-at-homes of us all.
Well, it would be a crying shame if this brilliant, boisterous entertainment were to fall by the wayside. There can be no musical in town more likely to lift depressed spirits, calm nerves and restore a sense of joy in London life than Tim Firth's treatment of Madness's mighty back catalogue.
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