AFTER York Musical Theatre’s autumn production of Anything Goes went west, director and musical director Paul Laidlaw found a new Porter in a storm by switching to this revue show of his own invention.

The lack of young men of a theatrical bent in York had put paid to Anything Goes, but Laidlaw has struck gold by constructing a show around highlights from Can-Can, Cole Classics, Kiss Me Kate, and in the second half, High Society, Cole Contrasts and Anything Goes.

Blue is the colour for the ladies in the first half, black cocktail dresses for later; white tuxedos, at first, and dinner jackets, afterwards, are de rigueur for the men, performing against Robert Readman’s twinkling star-lit set.

The men are outnumbered but Laidlaw is a skilled arranger and so he still achieves a balanced show, one that opens with the scene-setting Another Op’nin, Another Show and brings the curtain down with an exquisite ensemble encore of Every Time We Say Goodbye.

Jessa Liversidge is prominent throughout, outstanding in Blow, Gabriel, Blow; Anna Mitchelson’s I Hate Men and The Physician are full of amusing characterisation; Kelly Derbyshire is indeed magnifique in C’est Magnifique and Moira Murphy’s Nobody’s Chasing Me is the comic highlight.

Matthew Ainsworth and John Haigh lead the men charmingly, while Malcolm Poole and Larry Gibson both thrive in the spotlight, while Nicola Jenkins and Laidlaw’s choreography adds to the joy of this delightful, de-lovely night (and Saturday matinee).

It’s De-Lovely, An Evening Of Cole Porter, York Musical Theatre, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 7.30pm tonight, 2.30pm, 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk