The 2005 Chichester Festival has got off to a stunning start with a revival of Frank Loesser's musical from the early Sixties, which is chockfull of fizz and fun.

The show, a satirical look at big business based on the hard-back book of the title, may be 45 years old but it comes up fresh and new.

The show tells the tale of J Pierrepont Finch, who is a window washer at the giant Worldwide Widget corporation. Using the book as a manual, he ruthlessly and determinedly climbs the corporate ladder to become Vice President.

His tactics are not always clean and his ambition is more than naked: He stoops to blackmail, threats and sex to make his way to the top. This is a show which turned the musical on its head when it opened in 1961 and won seven Tony awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Director Martin Duncan has done a splendid job in bringing corporate life back to the stage, keeping the show in period and, above all, making it extremely funny.

While Big Impressionist Alistair McGowan makes his Chichester debut as the voice of the book, there's some splendid singing from Fiona Dunn as love interest Rosemary Pilkington and a dazzling piece of dancing from Beverley Klein as Miss Jones, the president's fierce and feisty secretary.

Frank Loesser's score is bright and noisy and full of good tunes, not least the rather tender number I Believe In You and the chorus line number The Company Way.

If I have one quibble it is that none of the songs from this show, from the man who brought us Guys And Dolls, is a stand-alone song. But drawing on its third year of an ensemble cast, Chichester has an undoubted hit on its hands.

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