AS ONE of a recent flurry of shows created around the hits of an already well known musician, All the Fun of the Fair has two things going for it.

Firstly, it wasn’t just half-heartedly rubber-stamped by seventies heart throb David Essex but he actually heavily involved in its creation, choosing the musical numbers to be used in it. Secondly, he is its star.

But despite this it wasn’t written as the “David Essex show”.

He shared the stage with a large cast of principal characters and some of his best known numbers – Hold Me Close, Me and My Girl – were not performed by their author.

The musical opens and closes with its only song not to have been penned by Essex, The Winter’s Tale, as the fortune teller Rosa (Louise English) recounts her story.

As musicals go it’s not the flimsiest plot ever, and it starts off well with fairground owner Levi Lee (Essex) and his son Jack (Paul-Ryan Carberry in his professional debut) struggling to cope with the untimely end of Jack’s mother during a not-so-death-defying motorbike stunt show.

But the tragic final scene is predictable and, while this is admittedly often a weakness of musicals, in this case the show fails to exploit the sense of foreboding that should develop when the ending has already been anticipated.

An imaginative set helps to bring the story to life, with carousel horses, a shooting galley, a candy floss stand – and in one number bumper cars whiz across the stage.

While you can’t fault Essex’s singing, he seems a little detached as the fairground owner who struggles to communicate with his rebellious teenage son.

Some of the coolness is down to the emotionally-restrained character he portrays, but even so he delivers many of his lines in the same measured tone, whether he’s breaking up a fight or admitting that he blames himself for the death of his wife.

The fact that it’s still David Essex though is enough for many people in the audience and, while you don’t have to be a big fan of his music to enjoy the show, it certainly helps.

READ why David Essex thinks All the Fun of the Fair moves grown men to tears at http://bit.ly/davidessex