I LOVED those happy days watching The Fonz, and a trip down memory lane seemed the perfect antidote to the trials of the day. What more could you want? The answer, unfortunately, is less.

The cast are heavily miked, yet they shout, which means it is nearly impossible to hear what was being said or sung at times.

The orchestra too, while being very accomplished, appear to be in a loudness competition with the cast.

Dancing and choreography are also fullon and if it’s possible to have too much enthusiasm and happiness, this cast have it in exhausting quantities. I couldn’t fault the energetic cast on what they did, but I expected more – a storyline would have been nice. All we get is a rather lame Hairspray style dancing competition to raise money to save the diner from developers.

I did enjoy The Leopard Lodge scene in the first act, which takes a leaf out of Tommy Cooper’s acting book and is refreshingly funny.

Former Sugababe Heidi Range is impressive as Pinky Tuskadero, her singing voice particularly nice in the ballads.

Cheryl Baker is also pretty darn good as Marion Cunningham and Ben Freeman as Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzerelli struts his stuff with all the aloofness of a comic book hero.

The songs are well delivered, but quite forgettable, and on the whole, this production lacks in direction, storyline and style.

  • Until Saturday. Box office 0844-871-3022 and atgtickets.com/Sunderland Helen Brown