As someone who experienced falling love with a work colleague, I had some sympathy with the two main characters in The Pajama Game at The Chichester Festival Minerva Theatre. The story of how a romance between a manager and a union official is threatened by an industrial dispute grounds the musical in reality around which flights of comedy, singing and dancing can soar.

It made for a superb evening's entertainment. I loved seeing a big musical in the intimate setting of the Minerva. For once you could see the detail of the performances as well as the spectacle. This did mean the cast had to be good at displaying both the big gestures and the subtle ones. And they were. They were all so good that it seems wrong to pick one out but I have to give a special mention to Joanna Riding as the sassy but lovestruck union rep who shone like the star she is.

Richard Eyre's direction displayed a lightness of touch that can only be appreciated when you have seen so many other musicals that lumber along the ground with the occasional flash of a big number. This production never once dragged. In fact it positively skipped along through scenes of love, loss, comedy and the sheer exuberance of the dance routines.

Stephen Mear's choreography is dazzling, with number after number setting the Minerva on fire. By the end, I wanted to join the cast dancing on stage. Fortunately the person I fell in love with in the workplace held me back.