at the City Hall Theatre -- October 4 to 14.

A thoroughly English show which brought Broadway as well as London to its feet, cast its infectious charm over Bermuda on Wednesday evening.

`Me and My Girl', this year's annual musical presentation by the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, is guaranteed to cheer even the surliest soul: its frankly implausible story line which turns deep-rooted class distinctions topsy-turvy in pre-war England, is ultimately little more than a vehicle for catchy songs and toe-tapping dance routines performed against a succession of increasingly spectacular stage settings. Actor/comedian Stephen Fry, who has since become a best-selling author, almost certainly improved the original version, preserving the period flavour while sharpening up that famous Cockney wit when he revised the 1930s script for the 1985 London revival.

The overwhelming appeal of the revival of `Me and My Girl' on both sides of the Atlantic caused a ripple of surprise throughout the theatre world. Frown, as some might, on a frothy, `irrelevant' musical without today's mandatory `message', it is interesting to note the passing references in the play to Mrs. Simpson who, in that last, misguided age of innocence before World War II, was quite as absorbing a topic as another Simpson is today.

Considered, even in 1937, as being a trifle old-fashioned, the show had been written for, and was long identified with the great Lupino Lane: few then, as now, could resist his jaunty account of The Lambeth Walk which became a dance craze in Britain and America that was to last throughout the war.

Fortunately, Bermuda has a pool of talent that can evoke the glitzy allure of this smash-hit musical, with an unusually strong supporting cast to back up the superb line-up of leading players, and a backstage team who, once again, have wrought miracles within the small confines of City Hall.

It is tempting to say that Richard Fell was `tailor made' for this role -- an amazingly versatile actor who can sing and dance with consummate ease -- but, in fact, he has the uncanny ability to make any and every role his own, surely the acid test of the true professional. He plays the engaging Bill Snibson, a happy-go-lucky Cockney who becomes the reluctant inheritor of a peerage (and a fortune), almost loses Sally, his long-time girl, but finds her again in time for a fortuitous ending which, thanks to some blatant Eliza Doolittling manoeuvrings, leaves the couple reigning happily over Hareford Hall.

His girl is played by Beverley Crick, another great all-rounder. They were last seen together in `The King and I', so this is a welcome reunion between two highly gifted performers whose onstage rapport is underpinned by a firmly disciplined technique and a natural sense of timing, whether they are singing the romantic `Hold My Hand' or leading the high-spirited nostalgia of that show-stopping `Lambeth Walk'.

Karen Musson who, as last year's Evita, confirmed that she is one of Bermuda's finest singers, reveals an unexpected gift for comedy in her role as the doggedly chic, fortune-hunting Lady Jaqueline. She is wonderfully matched with Keith Madeiros, who brings his inimitable, if almost over-the-top brand of humour to the role of her would-be suitor, the wimpy, `plus-foured' Hon.

Gerald Bolingbroke. They have some marvellous scenes together which they play to the hilt.

There is a regally splendid performance, too, from Kathryn Winter as the Duchess, whose lesson on the oddities of social etiquette with Richard Fell is certainly one of the highlights of the evening. Again, she is wonderfully supported by Steve Parkinson who, although he really does hail from `down Lambeth', has been elevated to the aristocracy for his role as Sir John Tremayne. This is a masterly performance, at its best, perhaps, in the scene with Bill Snibson where the two of them give a deliciously drunken rendition of `Love Makes the World Go Round.' James Burn, who leads a sparkling orchestra, has produced some fine singing both from principals and a well disciplined, well rehearsed chorus.

`Me and My Girl' is, above all, a `dancing' musical, with big, even flashy ensemble numbers. Barbara Frith's choreography is a revelation, capturing that bouncy merriment and stylish good humour which lifts this show out of the ordinary. All the principals perform well in the sizzling tap routines and, for a chorus selected primarily for its singing prowess, she has performed choreographic wonders with relatively simple steps that have been relentlessly rehearsed.

The gifted Peter Woodhouse is responsible for the set and lighting design, which is realistic in concept, with an almost bewildering succession of scene changes (four in the opening number alone) which range from the elegance of Mayfair and the baronial splendours of Hareford Hall, to the lamp-lit alleys of Lambeth.

Annette Hallett made an impressive directorial debut with `The King and I' and scores a triumph with `Me and My Girl'. It is a huge production which, especially in a show which relies so heavily on spectacular numbers, can easily become disjointed. In her hands, however, she has her cast acting its collective heart out. The pace throughout is beautifully maintained, reaching the first predictable climax at the end of Act I with `The Lambeth Walk', opening the second half with the enchanting croquet-green setting of `The Sun Has Got Its Hat On' and moving through the plaintive `Leaning on a Lamp-post' to the celebratory Hunt Ball and Wedding Reception. And all leads, of course, to the inevitable finale where a reprise of `The Lambeth Walk' has the audience clapping in time and almost dancing in the aisles alongside the cast.

If you need (and who doesn't?) a couple of hours of blissful release from the many and varied troubles of this world, `Me and My Girl' provides the perfect escape -- it is comic, gentle, and ridiculously happy. Don't miss it.

PATRICIA CALNAN THE HEIR OF HAREFORD HALL -- Richard Fell and Beverley Crick star in the Gilbert & Sullivan production of `Me and My Girl' at City Hall.