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London,
Fiona Mountford's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Thom Southerland.
Cast: Billy Boyle, Graham Weaver, Kate Nelson
Description: Romantic musical written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The workers at the Sleep-Tite Pajama factory are about to strike, Sid and Babe hold conflicting opinions. But love may still happen. Directed by Thom Southerland.
Trains: Tube/BR: Southwark/Waterloo 
Phone: 0207261 9876
Website: www.upandcoming.webeden.co.uk
Troubled union: Sid (Graham Weaver) and the feisty Babe (Stephanie Nielson)
There can be few things more uplifting in these doomy credit-crunch days than a revival of this jolly 1954 musical about strained labour relations in a pajama factory. The workers in Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’s tune-stuffed show might be proud union activists campaigning for a pay rise but that doesn’t mean there’s no time for dancing and romancing on the job.
The Union is making an increasingly well-argued case to be the best reviver of musicals around and so it proves once more here, as Thom Southerland’s delightful production has 15 actors twirling about impressively slickly in the tiny space.
Feisty Grievance Committee chair Babe (Stephanie Nielson) and conflicted superintendent Sid (Graham Weaver) might be the leads but it’s the songs that are the real stars. Even if you’ve never seen the show, chances are that you’ll have heard the likes of Once a Year Day and Steam Heat.
There’s some cherishable choreography involving a group of excitably high-pitched female factory-floor employees; no wonder grump-box boss Mr Hasler is moved to proclaim: “This is a crisis: the tops are 15 minutes behind the bottoms!”
For the pajamas, maybe, but certainly not for the dancers.
Until 10 May (020 7261 9876, www.uniontheatre.org)
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
