So are we to condemn The Drifters Girl because it is about exploited male singers or to commend it for giving its cast co-creation roles?
Along the way we are treated to spirited performances. The casual way Emer McDaid's Romaine Vole steals a cigarette from Sir Wilfrid tells us what a wrong'un she is and her accent is a master class in doing the quintessential European femme fatale. Joe McNamara's Leonard Vole is a man on the edge in more ways than one. Jonathan Firth's Sir Wilfrid is a master of words but it is his face that shows his torment when his courtroom victory turns out to be... anything but.
The musical starts with foot tapping and stamping, exciting Gaelic rhythms with some Irish jigs as Claude introduces some of the Gander residents, teachers Beulah (Jenna Boyd) and Annette (Alice Fearn) and the policeman Oz (Harry Morrison). It is as if we are making new friends as we learn about the residents of Gander and their contribution and also the passengers of Captain Beverley Bass (Alice Fearn)’s plane, an American Airlines flight bound for Dallas, Texas.