Until Saturday September 27, Theatre Royal Bath.

A WAVE of nostalgia has brought many portmanteau musicals of late: Mamma Mia and We Will Rock You relive the 70s and 80s, Never Forget the 90s - well Shout allows we aging hippies to pull on our white boots and chain belts to twist the 60s night away.

Three northern lasses head to the bright lights of Swinging London. Ruby (Claire Sweeney) is determined to make the most of the new freedom of the decade. Betty (Shona White) and Georgina (Donna Steele) join her to live with Ruby's mother hen played by Su Pollard.

She plays the role with warmth and is very endearing, seeming more comfortable in her role than the three girls.

Set in a hair-dressing salon, the audience is taken on an incredible musical journey around swinging London, capturing the amazing fashions, sexual liberation and great fun of the times. It's groovy baby!

The changes during the decade are narrated by Mark McGee using some amusing advert formats from the latest craze magazine Shout!

New inventions like tins, tights and the Milk Tray Man pop up to remind the audience of the fun, free and colourful peacock revolution of the time. There was some talk of the political upheavals and changes in censorship but the show concentrates more on the free love, fab and far out aspects leading up to the hippy era!

The emphasis was much more on songs than dance - the cast of seven sadly did not allow for much ensemble choreography - with some very powerful ballads. Top song for me was To Sir With Love, belted by Donna Steele, with many other favourites such as Downtown, Alfie and You Don't Have to Say You Love Me - all the original soulful, stirring girl power ballads.

The staging was simple, the humour gentle and full of happy reminiscences. The plot is paper thin but is hardly important. The overall message seemed to be that the more things change, the more things - and people - stay the same. Still, as the audience relived Those Were The Days My Friend, philosophy was for next week.

I truly look forward to seeing someone try to fashion a Noughties musical

Sarah Singleton