City of Angels, Donmar Warehouse *****

 A musical and the Donmar Warehouse do not go hand in hand with each other. The intimate space does not suit brash music theatre. Despite this, City of Angels works in a delightful way which succeeds in giving the musical characters which seem like real human beings rather than just personas. The storyline is of an author writing the screenplay from his hit novel and life around him seems to mirror the life the characters in his film noir crime thriller have. The actor currently starring in BBC3 comedy Crims has smartened himself up in order to play one quarter of the chorus who do-wop their way through Cy Colemans electrifying music fantastically well. The leads are exceptional in a star-studded lineup of music theatre greats from the evil director which Peter Polycarpou portrays with such ease, to the detective Tam Mutu whose singing is marvelous. Hadley Fraser's Stine is one of the most wonderful parts I have seen in the West End with spine tingling solos from him, Craig and Trehearn who all excel  magnificently with songs which could easily stunt the story from progressing but does not due to the marvelous direction from Rourke. Samantha Barks has a limited role but still manages to show how talented she is within that role. It is wonderful to see a west end musical which is easily better than a lot of shows on the West End on my favourite stage in the world.