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Following in the teetering footsteps of the Olivier-winning Douglas Hodge and that Graham Norton, Roger Allam wears the candyfloss bouffant of Zaza the drag queen, with Philip Quast returning as his companion, Georges. Allam is more Ena Sharples than Marlene: he mostly looks as if he’s chewing a wasp, while his wonderful speaking voice lounges between a drawl and a world-weary sigh. Terry Johnson’s affable production has settled comfortably into the Playhouse, like an artiste thankfully going up a girdle size. This tale of a drag cabaret threatened by moral-majority in-laws still offers plenty of frocks, jocks and teal eye shadow. Nonetheless, it is far from a classic musical — three big tunes, reprised again and again, until you feel bludgeoned by a sequined cosh
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