The first show we saw in New York was CURTAINS the last musical written by the great team of John Kander & Fred Ebb at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. It was the best way to immerse yourself into a run of Broadway shows: big, splashy, colourful and a trifle forgettable.

The show has been running for just over a year and we were lucky to still get most of the original cast. The show won David Hyde Pierce last year's Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and it is easy to see why as he plays his character with a charming ease and a palpable sense of giddy excitement as his character's dreams come true. But despite him and a top-heavy cast of Debra Monk, Karen Ziemba and Edward Hibbert the show remains a curate's egg.

1959. ROBBIN' HOOD is playing Boston in a pre-Broadway tryout when it's talentless leading lady collapses during the curtain calls. A few hours later after the negative reviews come in there is more bad news... the star was murdered. Enter Lt. Frank Cioffi to solve the murder but he is more excited about being backstage at a musical comedy. Soon he's not only solving the murders but also solving the production team's problems with the show.

ROBBIN' HOOD's internal problems are mirrored by CURTAINS genesis. The original book writer Peter Stone & lyricist Fred Ebb both died while the show was in pre-production and both were supplanted by Rupert Holmes and I think the stop-start birth of the show has affected the final production. There are show-stopping numbers, there is a gag-filled book, there is a big colourful production but number follows number, scene follows scene with no noticeable inner motor. It is fun to sit through but with the talents involved it's lack of spark is odd.

The score is not one Kander & Ebb's best - indeed some of it's numbers are familiar to some of their other scores - but there are enough songs to keep one engaged. The performances also helped keep one involved.

Apart from Hyde Pierce the best performances were from Debra Monk as the show's hard-as-nails producer. Short, blonde and stout she spits out her never-ending crass knob jokes with the venom they deserve and nails her songs with as deadly an aim as the killer.

Karen Ziemba plays one of the show's composers who takes over the leading role and delights with her smoky voice in the ballads as she does with her energetic dance number at the end of the first act. I saw her Tony Award-winning role in CONTACT a few years and met her afterwards backstage with my friend Dezur. She was charming and it was nice to see her on stage again.

The waspish director was played by Edward Hibbert with extra-added vitriol.

Other fine performances came from Jason Daniely as Ziemba's estranged writing partner, Noah Racey as the show's leading man and Shannon Lewis as the producer's ambitious chorus-girl daughter.

I can imagine this show never appearing over here due to it's inherent Broadway themes and in-jokes so it was good to take this opportunity to see it.