It’s hard to believe that ten years have passed since Paradise - a Rock‘n’Roll Fable wowed audiences at the Bridewell and then in Cornwall. With their latest show, Peter and Phillip Ley have surpassed themselves, thanks in no small measure to the renowned musicality of Colin Guthrie and to Ruth Sullivan’s choreography.

Other commitments meant that I was unable to catch the show until late in the second week; I feared that perhaps the spark might have gone out of the show after so many performances, and that voices might sound a little over-used. Not a bit of it. The performance was as fresh as a daisy and quite stunning. I loved every bit of it.

I’ve been beaten to it by two professional reviewers and can only echo their plaudits (even if their spelling left something to be desired). And, in all honesty, I’m loath to criticise at all the hard work of so many friends and acquaintances. With a cast as sizeable as this, I’m not going to namecheck everyone who participated but there was no weak link anywhere in the performances. By the same token, I liked the fact that this was a real ensemble show and wasn’t dependent on a couple of lead roles with a lot of bit parts.

All nine of the Marionettes gave stand-out performances. Nine ? Well we were treated to the original four-piece girl group from the 1960s and then to their characters twenty or so years later as the long-awaited reunion concert is planned. Additionally there is Laurie, beautifully played by Haidee Elise, who successfully convinced us that she was both a teenager and then a woman in her forties. Laurie is part of the original foursome, along with lead singer Mary (Fiorella Osborne) and the Melzer sisters (Olivia Barton-Fisher and Jessica O’Toole). An audition with studio boss Allan Tyrell (Julian Farrance) leads to Laurie’s sacking from the group and her replacement by the more experienced Cathy Jackson (Angharad Ormond). Not only that, but the new girl takes over the lead vocalist role, as poor Mary is demoted to backing singer. All sound a bit familiar? I couldn’t help thinking of the saga of the Supremes where Diana Ross usurped the lead role taken by Florence Ballard.

But the Marionettes go from strength to strength thanks to a string of hits - Dynamite, Shut Up and Kiss Me and the ill-fated Christmas single. Without further ado I must mention the songs (apparently 18 in all) which were without exception stand-out pieces. I’m still humming them which must mean something. They cleverly captured the period with just the faintest echoes of the Shangri-Las (and even, dare I say, the Beatles).

I haven’t mentioned George Ellis yet, either. Brad Johnson had the tricky role of being the near contemporary of both the young girls and their 1980s reincarnations. As the manager of the original Marionettes it’s his idea (along with Tyrell) to get the girls back together again. A whole sub-plot concerned his personal relationship with both Mary and Cathy but I did feel that this was a bit brushed over and could have been developed more strongly. I might also have considered giving the character a minor costume change to differentiate the eras - maybe a different jacket to signify in what decade we were. Then again, a clever jeu de théàtre was to have the re-united group observe their younger personas on stage. Twenty years on and all of the four Marionettes have had successful solo careers. Mary (Annette Ross) has had number one records in Europe, Cathy (Stella Henney) has played seasons in Las Vegas and Veronica and Evelyn Melzer (Deborah Ley and Annnemarie Fearnley) have become gospel singers. The casting of all eight actresses was a masterstroke - it was so easy to believe that the older women were indeed the same people as their younger selves.

As a counterpoint to the four girls we had a male backing group the Metrotones who evolved seamlessly out of the cheery crew of roadies. It was a clever idea to make the roadies real characters (although to be honest they were a unit rather than four distinct individuals) and this avoided otherwise awkward set changes. Michael Allaway, Michael Bettell, James McKendrick and Martin Shaw were always a delight to watch as they shifted trunks around the stage and then performed exquisite four-part harmonies.

A further nod to the theatricality of the whole piece was to have the band prominently on stage and permanently part of the action, rather than being confined to the Bridewell balcony. It sort of made perfect sense that the actors could turn to them at odd moments to start a particular number. A lovely moment, too, was when Peta Barker could obviously hear the disembodied voices of the Marionettes greatest fans Terry and Tippi (Jonathon Wober and Liz Mittler) as they concealed themselves in trunks in order to gain backstage access and get their heroines’ autographs.

If I have any criticism of the show, it would only be that it lacked any real moments of high drama or poignancy, but I don’t want to be over-critical of the book. It was the songs that counted, and they were faultless. The band played a storm and I was very nearly on my feet at the end (but conscious of the people sitting behind me). Look out Cornwall, you have a monster of a show coming up at the end of August!