I have looked into the heart of a murderer tonight and it was dark, glittering, frighteningly alluring... and a little like I expected.

Tonight Owen and I saw the London debut of Matthew Bourne's new production DORIAN GRAY at Sadler's Wells - which should be retitled Bourne's Wells as his revivals regularly pack the place to the rafters.

Adapted from Oscar Wilde's only novel this is just the latest incarnation for the beautiful but deadly Dorian - IMDB lists 16 film or tv productions, the latest filming right now with Ben Barnes (Narnia's Price Caspian) and Colin Firth (Rupert Everett must have a sicknote).

Bourne's GRAY is set in the London of Now. Dorian (Richard Winsor) has everything that is needed to succeed - the anonymous good-looks of a model, the Beckham crop, a body to die for (and some do) and no morality. Discovered by fashion photographer Basil (Aaron Sillis) serving drinks at a media party for the soignee fashion arbiter Lady H (Michela Meazza), Dorian is soon stripped and posing for the camera in Basil's studio. Soon he and Basil are locked together on the studio floor. Lady H moulds him into The Next Big Thing and soon he is the face of Immortal Pour Homme. A media sensation Dorian is the one everyone wants to be seen with and he is soon involved in a glacial relationship with Lady H, a waning relationship with Basil and a relationship with a pretty but shallow ballet dancer. Through it all Dorian glides, his face a blank, as everyone he meets is in thrall to the power of his celebrity. But when his dancer lover overdoses at a party Dorian watches impassively, his only response to pull the phone cord out of the wall as his lover dies across their bed.But time is moving on and Dorian is haunted by a doppelganger who he glimpses where ever he goes. Same clothes, same crew-cut, same face... only maybe less jaded, more innocent. Dorian's trajectory into his own dark murderous world culminates in him confronting himself before being immortalised forever one more time...

Matthew Bourne has said with this work he was looking to create something darker, something to prove he is not just the populist blockbuster creator of SWAN LAKE, NUTCRACKER! and EDWARD SCISSORHANDS. He has certainly succeeded. It is a chilly, bleak distilation of Wilde's theme of the treacherous beauty destroying those who come too close and Bourne finds much to reference in today's empty vacuum of celebrity worship and the cynical media world - the glitterball at the club Dorian goes to is a rotating sparkling skull.

Ultimately though I felt a trifle hollow too and unsure at times what I was watching - as there is no portrait as such apart from a peeling billboard of Dorian, there is nothing ultimately for Dorian to hide so his murders are just random - was it DORIAN GRAY I was watching or a dance version of AMERICAN PSYCHO? A strong first half leads to a rather muddy second half where I found myself hoping one of the main performers would speak - just to give their characters some defining purpose. Ultimately I was a bit disappointed in the choreography. There were lots of Bourneisms but they seemed remembered snatches from previous productions. There was a lengthy scene set in a club in the second act and I found myself thinking that it could in fact be a routine from a Kylie show while she had a costume change. Maybe I was expecting too much?

The star of the evening is of course Richard Winsor who is rarely off the stage and is certainly charismatic - I also liked him as the sexually confused garage worker in THE CAR MAN so it was good to see him in a larger role. Sadly Michela Meazza is given nothing to do as his powerful patron other than slink and drape over chairs and beds. Aaron Sillis was certainly energetic as the hapless photographer Basil but again I felt he was not strongly defined as a character. A special shout to Jared Hageman as Dorian's watchful doppelganger who had several moments in the second half to shine. The small company doubled and tripled up acordingly and were all fine. Lez Brotherston's revolving wall set was cleverly conceived and there was a nice slow reveal towards the end to show the extent of Dorian's descent into madness. Terry Davies' score was an intriguing mixture of dance beats and electronica with rock elements. I bet the Bourne doyennes had their denture rattled.

Ultimately I think that in his understandable striving to strike out into new more sombre areas, Matthew Bourne might have just overlooked that certain spark which makes him such a creative genius.

I have tickets to see it again in a week's time so maybe it will fall into place more with a second viewing.