The Pajama Game, Shaftesbury Theatre

The latest transfer from the Chichester Festival Theatre, (a regional theatre you really should have heard of), is the all-singing, all-dancing Pajama Game 
Continuing to direct the troupe is former Artistic Director of the National Theatre, Richard Eyre, whose recent production of Ibsen’s Ghosts at the Almeida before transferring to the Trafalgar Studios, garnered rave reviews along the way. His hugely successful Guys and Dolls (the National, 1982) should have cemented his position in musical theatre, but this year's utter flop (ending after four months) Stephen Ward  means that this production has been a chance for Eyre to prove himself anew. And he has done so with aplomb, generating a flurry of superlative reviews.
Set in a pajama factory in which workers’ demands for a pay rise are falling on deaf ears, its true theme is the blossoming, but tempestuous, romance between Babe, the head of the worker’s grievance committee, and Sid, the factory’s new superintendant. Babe is to be played by the double Olivier Award winning Joanna Riding, who wowed audiences in Chichester. The role of Sid is taken up anew by the two-time Olivier Award nominated Michael Xavier.
The score is brought to life by a live band with unparalleled exuberance. Dance is a major highlight of The Pyjama Game. Eyre is reunited with his Mary Poppins choreographer Stephen Mear, though it's not quite tap-dancing on the roof bit there's a tantalising tango number and bags of infectious energy.