If you want a great evening's entertainment, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado will provide just that at the Theatre Royal.

The Carl Rosa Opera company, once a by-word for opera in this country and reformed only four years ago after a 40-year break, does it extremely well.

Gilbert's attack on local government corruption, set against the then-exotic backdrop of Japan, is a hoot.

You will laugh from start to finish and you will love just everything about it.

It is a lavish production. The costumes, worth an estimated £250,000, won an Oscar when used in Mike Leigh's film Topsy Turvy.

They do look fabulous. Heavy brocade mixed with finest silks and in a riot of colours make this show very easy on the eye.

The set also comes from the film and is gorgeously painted and solid.

But the essence of any operetta must be the singing and the music and it is superb. The 24-strong orchestra, under conductor Richard Balcombe, fairly bounces along.

This show might not have quite the same punch as HMS Pinafore or The Pirates Of Penzance but it still has those wonderfully tum-ti-tum tunes, including Three Little Maids, How-Do-Do, A Wandering Minstrel I and the haunting Tit Willow.

The music was smooth and the singing of a high standard.

Simon Butteriss's Ko-Ko was brilliant. He has a beautifully pliable rubber face and owes more than a little to the antics of Julian Clary.

Bruce Graham's Pooh-Bar was magnificent. In addition to all his ceremonial offices, he possessed a fine baritone voice and a good sense of comic timing.

Katisha, The Mikado's mother-in-law elect, was a triumph. Nuala Willis sings and plays the obnoxious harridan to comic perfection.

Although this is a long show - curtain doesn't fall until just before 10.30pm -

it doesn't feel it.

This is sure-fire, top entertainment, lavishly done and a show to be enjoyed and savoured.

For tickets, call 01273 328488.