The Drowsy Chaperone is a clever, highly entertaining production, the likes of which have not been seen in Bermuda since Gilbert and Sullivan’s other major feat The Producers.

Dr Philip Jones really brought this production to life as our narrator with his boyish enthusiasm for a fictional 1920s musical, while his vulnerability made the play wholly human. His small stature defied a big heart.

The set was impressive despite the unfortunate absence of Cleo Pettitt this year who is remembered for her stunning sets in The Producers. The Drowsy Chaperone was full of little details and moving parts including a marble/gilt style staircase and walls that magically acquired and lost wallpaper during set changes.

The stage exit was through an old fridge door that helped to blur the stark reality of this lonely, little man in his apartment with the glitz and glamour swirling around in his head with the help of his favourite vinyl pressing.

The lighting was stunning, with floor to ceiling William Morris-style projections providing a visual feast. The “techies” clearly have a new toy and did risk overdoing it a bit with new projections plastered over numerous scenes but it certainly brought the theatre to life.

The Drowsy Chaperone herself, Nancy Thompson, was a hoot from start to end and her professional experience shone through. Her singing voice was good but her “rousing” number just wasn’t that great a song – nothing on the scale of Sally Bowles’s Maybe This Time from Cabaret.

Another standout actor was the other professional on stage — the dashing Will Kempe who played the role of amorous Aldelpho expertly and hilariously. His absurdly larger-than-life persona and jumped up Latino accent had us doubled over.

Kudos also goes out to Nicole Crumpler as the ditsy Kitty, Kelly Gilmour for her great singing voice and Jim Brier, who has truly grown into himself on the stage.

The lanky Maxwell King also showed us some fantastic dance moves while the gangster chefs, Owain Johnston-Barnes and Che Barker, also provided plenty of laughs throughout the show with their threatening messages tempered with dodgy food puns.

You may be familiar with the concept of a play within a play but this is a musical within a play as the characters from the record burst into life in the man’s New York apartment. The clever part is that all the characters are subject to the whims of his rickety old record player, including the skips and jumps.

The music directed by Phil Shute was outstanding as was the overall direction by Joell Froomkin.

G&S took a risk with this play as it is not well known but they hit the nail on the head — or the needle on the record.

• The production runs at City Hall until October 10.