'Clybourne Park' at Wyndham's Theatre

At the weekend 'Clybourne Park' won Best New Play at the Olivier's, it has also received almost universal praise from the critics and been given a West End transfer from the Royal Court, could it possibly live up to these expectations?

Unequivocally yes. It's a brilliant new play performed superbly by a hugely talented cast.

Bruce Norris' script dazzles with it's impish ability to raise questions about acceptable behaviour and language and the changing state of morality without ever feeling preachy or forced. His characters speak and react like real people. The dialogue, especially in the second act, bounces from -ism to -ism delighting in making the audience shout with laughter while cringing at the taboos being broken. Sexism, racism, xenophobia and homophobia all get a little dig, a little moment caging the characters in a maze of things you must never do or say. For middle class liberals it's a perfect storm and hysterically funny.

Enormous skill is displayed by all members of the cast. Sarah Goldberg excels as Lindsey and Lorna Brown must look forward to delivering the killer white women gag every single night. Perfectly timed it had the audience in uproar. Stephen Campbell Moore has a brilliant way of communicating that he knows he's digging a hole but just can't stop, you squirm at each utterance. Lucian Msamati has a panicked dignity in the first act.

Set and costume design by Robert Innes Hopkins has a suitably fifties sit-com style in the first act and an astonishing transformation in the second. Lighting and sound are subtle, letting the words carry the weight.

If there is a weakness, it's the final coda to the play where Kenneth makes an appearance. This one extra tie from the incidents of the first act seemed a trifle unnecessary given the parentage of the rest of the characters and the presence of the box and note onstage. However this is a tiny misstep in an otherwise almost perfect evening of intelligent entertainment.

Bill Count: 2

'Kimono Jungle' at the Ambassadors

Set in a zoo in Tokyo, 'Kimono Jungle' is the touching story of a zoo keeper who finds out she owns the zoo and then accidentally sells it to a couple of Americans who want to eat and wear the animals. With touches of Sondheim, Bertholt Brecht, Rodgers and Hammerstein and the Bee Gees, the score is varied and, yet, somehow feels as though it's made up on the spot. Each song has a close connection to the plot although the plot seems rambling and the carnivorous inclinations of the Americans decidedly tacked on.

I am, of course, actually talking about the blissfully silly 'Showstopper!'. An improvised musical generated from suggestions from the audience. Immensely popular at the Edinburgh Fringe, recently housed at the Trafalgar Studios but now a regular at the Ambassadors with a Radio 4 comedy series under their belt 'Showstopper!' is enjoying great success and, judging by last night, that success is well deserved.

It's obviously impossible to really review the contents of such a show since each one is going to be completely different and, I'm sure, partly dependent on the quality of the suggestions. It is, however, completely possible to be blown away by the skilful pastiches. The Sondheim number sounded like an early draft of 'Into the Woods' and the Brecht section brought tears to the eyes - 'I am a capitalist!'.

Improvisational comedy of this form treads a fine line between collaboration, astonishingly demonstrated in the group singing, and an evil desire to make things awkward for your fellow performers. I loved the unnecessary tongue twister based around Yoshi, sushi, sashimi and sea shanties, for example. If I have a criticism then it would be I wanted to see more of the evil - listening to Caroline Quentin and Paul Merton deliberately corpse each other in 'The Masterson Inheritance' is comedy gold.

All the actors were quite marvellous and full marks to the small band for being able to keep up and make it up. Frankly I'm amazed it works at all. But a extra round of applause for Julie Clare's gin sozzled panda, absolute genius.

Oh and a nod to my line of the evening 'Suzuki, you have to do something! The corners are coming off the block beast!'

Bill Count: 0

'Season's Greetings' at the National

'Season's Greetings' is an Alan Ayckbourn play set, unsurprisingly, at Christmas. I thought it would be a bit odd watching it in March but, even though a large family Christmas is the sit in this sit-com, it doesn't feel at all festive. Almost anti-Christmas in it's depiction of people forced together in an annual struggle to endure each others company.

It's sometime in the early 1980s, Belinda and Neville are hosting the large gathering for family and friends and Rachel's sister has invited a new friend, up and coming author Clive, to join them. Bernard wants to do his annual puppet show for the children. His wife, Phyllis, has a drink problem. Pattie is pregnant again but stuck with a loveless, useless husband in Eddie. And Harvey, with his enthusiasm for the more violent of life's pursuits, takes up houseroom.

As the characters bounce off each other, concerned very little by their drink fuelled actions, the comedy becomes bigger and sillier but never looses its perceptive quality. This is classic British farce in many ways but with a rigorous intellect behind it. The second act had a more fevered quality, the laughs coming thickly as things spun splendidly out of control.

Catherine Tate plays the brash and dominating Belinda broadly and goes for the big laughs while Nicola Walker, as her put upon sister, shuffled through the proceedings with an air of someone apologetic to even ask the air to move around her. Tate and Walker played to their strengths and I don't think anyone would accuse the performances of being subtle but when you have this much skill with a punchline it really doesn't matter. Both character's interactions with Clive being particularly funny.

It's always fun to watch drunk acting and Jenna Russell was no exception. I found the husbands less interesting but Mark Gatiss must get a massive round of applause for his collapse in Act Two. Just the right amount of frenzy and pathos as his puppet show hysterically fell apart.

And the set! I'm used to seeing amazing stage craft in the Lyttleton theatre but this beautiful three floored house sliced down the middle was something special. Not just in the extraordinary believability of the fixtures and fittings but the gorgeous touches around the edges - loft lagging in the roof and drainage pipes underneath. It's not often you get property envy from a theatrical set but this one managed it.

This was a superior slice of British comedy performed by a cast at the top of their game. An absolute treat.

Bill Count: 4

'The Wizard of Oz' at the London Palladium

I was lucky enough to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's new production of the classic 'The Wizard of Oz' early in it's run and it was an impressive technical achievement.

The show follows the MGM movie to a large degree. It's obvious effort has been made to turn the film friendly structure into something more suitable for a two act musical spectacle (though the poppy field sequence was still unnecessary and slipped a bit into panto with good and bad witch swinging wildly over the action). And it aims more at the younger family than the growing up angst of 'Wicked'

All the actors manage to fill the shoes of their illustrious predecessors with performances that are somewhere between homage, pastiche and reinterpretation. Hannah Waddingham hits the Kansas vowels squarely making such universally recognised lines as '...and your little dog too' and 'I'm melting!' bring a shiver of recognition and pleasure. Danielle Hope convinces as Dorothy and Edward Baker-Duly just had the edge for me with his fighter of a Tin Man.

The new music fitted into the style of the rest of the score but never really came to life. The understated melody of 'Wonders of the World' allowed Michael Crawford to sparkle like the old pro he is but the Wicked Witch's new song didn't really hit the highs that I know the actress is capable of. Overall these were nice but not essential additions - the show comes across as constructed rather than composed.

Monkeys swooped, impressive sets slipped effortlessly onto the stage, pyrotechnics pyroteched and tornados wooshed us away from Kansas. The staging along with the set and costume design are the major strengths of the production. Obviously a lot of attention and love has been put into thew look of the show.

But, ultimately, all eyes were on Toto - would the small dog, utterly uninterested in what was going on around it, misbehave? Would he rush off stage at an awkward moment? Would he give up travelling around in circles on the Yellow Brick Road (yes, as it happens)? Would he chase after the wrong actor or show an impressive amount of affection for the Wicked Witch? And this was what was missing from the production as a whole, all very slick but we were left looking to the dog for some warmth and humanity.

Bill Count: 2

'The Last Five Years' at the Tabard Theatre

'The Last Five Years' is a Jason Robert Brown song cycle that attempts to do something interesting with the simple story of a man and a women falling into and out of love. The two protagonists are placed at opposite ends of the relationship and where Catherine moves from the messy end to the promising beginning, her partner Jamie gets the chronological direction and the disappointment.

Each actor gets at least one angry song, soppy song and a comedy song along with the one duet when the two characters pass each other at their wedding and as an example of the versatility of the performer the show has a lot going for it. I saw Jamie Lee Pike and Christopher Pym and they were both very good although I felt Jamie got stronger as the evening progressed. This may have been because she is more natural at comedy than tragedy or it could be that the songs get better. Either way she seemed more comfortable when she was happier.

The score, as you would expect from 80 minutes worth of songs, varies from the very good to those that sound pretty much like any other recent off Broadway show but the highs are definitely higher than, for example, 'Ordinary Days'. The middle duet is very strong.

The setting on the tiny Tabbard stage was accomplished and made very good use of the space. The band played with gusto and the arrangement for piano and strings was magnificent although the balance between the actors and the music could have been more, well, balanced.

Unfortunately, clever though the structure of the musical is and pretty strong as the performances were, the structure seems to rob the situation of its power. Limiting the characters to single sided musical conversations has the knock on effect of limiting the exploration of the relationship. In fact, it seems to have the effect of making both the protagonists unsympathetic. She seems whiny and he seems selfish. Which, in turn, means that you leave the evening more intellectually impressed rather than emotionally moved.

Bill Count: 0