The Haslemere Players’ production of Kipps – The New Half a Sixpence was just the tonic I needed in today’s challenging times.

This upbeat musical simply dazzles with joyous verve, cracking humour, amazing song and dance numbers and an energetic and enthusiastic cast in gorgeous period costumes, who brought smiles to the audience’s faces together with whoops, cheers and well-deserved applause.

A shout out is also required to the set building team who surpassed themselves with a near life-sized bandstand and an impressive stately home.

Kipps is the contemporary stage version of the timeless musical treasure Half a Sixpence which reinvents this classic show for the modern age with even more flash-bang-wallop. It was rewritten by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) with a new score by the Mary Poppins musical team.

Arthur Kipps is played by the incredibly talented Arran Treacher-Evans, whose astonishing voice and dance moves wowed the audience.

An overworked draper’s assistant at Shalford’s Bazaar in Folkestone at the turn of the last century, Kipps is a charming but ordinary young man who along with his fellow apprentices – the fabulous Tim Spindler, Isaac Lucas, Zac Rasulian and Becca McGregor – dreams of a better and more fulfilling future.

A chance meeting with Mr Chitterlow, a burgeoning playwright played by charismatic Tony Creasey, leads Kipps to find he has inherited a fortune, which propels him into high society where he reluctantly meets the likes of the haughty Mrs Walsingham (the hilarious Vicki Gavin) and landed gentry, Lady Punnet (the superb Carolyn Lane) and gets engaged to sophisticated Helen Walsingham (the beautiful voice of Alexandra Boughton).

However, he comes to realise his first love, Ann Pornick (a stunning and powerful performance from Emma Lumb) is the one he truly wants and who he happily marries in a musical ceremony attended by the whole cast.

Brilliantly directed and choreographed by Kim Seymour, with Justin Luke as musical director of a fantastic ten-piece orchestra, this lively and engaging show was a night of truly uplifting entertainment.

Debbie Bowyer