THIS is a show that captures a moment in time when skirts were whirly, quiffs were shiny and the music was everything. A group of teenagers meet in a youth club in 1961 and sing their way through heartbreak to happiness.

The well-known songs came fast and furiously.

From the start the audience were toe-tapping to Let’s Dance, Shakin’ All Over, Sweet Nothins and more, building to a riproaring finale as C’mon Everybody and At the Hop had people on their feet and dancing in the stalls.

A young and exuberant cast do full justice to this fast-paced musical. Several are making professional debuts, including Laura (Hannah Boyce), playing the gawky schoolgirl who blossoms into a confident 16- year-old. Louise Olley, who played flirty Sue, has a fantastic voice.

But the whole cast sparkled to create a confection of good-time memories, a rollercoaster of songs and set pieces supported very well by a band including two sax players, Chloe Edwards- Wood and Victoria Quigley (with the heavy baritone sax) who danced and sang and acted as well as played.

If you want to leave cares and worries behind for an evening then this is the place to go. From start to happy end you will be singing along with the cast and reliving the trials and tribulations of being a teenager in love.

The sets are bright and imaginative, the staging pacy and slick, all the music and singing is live and of a very high standard.

Highlights for me were the dodgem cars and the wonderful, offbeat characters played by Mike Lloyd with his trombone.

Perfect entertainment. And Sunderland Empire is exactly the right place for such a performance with its glorious atmosphere of plush velvet, chandeliers and sparkling mirrors.

  • Until Saturday. Box office 0844-8713022 and online atgtickets.com/sunderland

Pippa Little