BSO, Pavilion, Bournemouth

I'VE got them on my list, I thought they would be missed, no costumes and no chorus, though no one even hissed.

And why not? Because this set of troupers had the ethos of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas in their veins.

There was no need for star turn Richard Suart, as the Mikado's Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko, to prove the point by beheading himself either, since the flow of character assassinations from Ian Caddy as Poo-Bah (Lord High Everything Else), on a very up-to-date hit list, included the Prime Minister, Two Jags Prescott, Madonna and the English cricket team.

Oliver White (Nanki-Poo) had the enviable job of puckering-up to the stunning soprano Jeni Bern (Yum-Yum) while late replacement for Gillian Knight, Jill Peart (Katisha) grabbed her man as they, and we, fell about laughing. Louise Crane completed the three sisters and elsewhere formed the soloists semi-chorus.

John Owen Edwards directed the BSO with an apt touch of humour and sensitive balance, sponsored from Titipu to Penzance by the world's local bank, HSBC.