A Chorus Line, at London Palladium, review Still, I'd like to begin by quibbling, if only to make the point that I'm not entirely intimidated. The story it relates is, I would venture, a slight one. A group of stock characters assemble for an audition. There is an ageing, bitchy diva; a homosexual struggling to make his way in a heartless world; and no shortage of pushy, young wannabes, male and female. So far, so Hi-De-Hi, and, if you aren't drawn to the line-up in the opening moments, you're going to have to lump it, because - apart from the odd dance routine and departure - it stays in situ. Hoping for lavish sets? Forget it. The action is confined to a rehearsal hall, so the design is necessarily minimalist. One could go on, but Bob Avian's revival still works. Its secret is an awesome simplicity that must count as one of the great wonders of the theatrical world: it's a show all about artifice that, paradoxically, contains absolutely none itself . The piece has a rhythm and momentum about it that always seems to pull even the most curmudgeonly punters along. James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante's script is full of knowing one-liners. "What would you like to be when you grow up?," Ed Currie's prim and proper Bobby asks Leigh Zimmerman's wonderfully neurotic Sheila. Without missing a beat, she replies: "Young." The members of the cast breathe a vulnerable humanity into the chorus line that makes it difficult, after a while, not to care. Marvin Hamlisch's big numbers, when they start to come, thick and fast, still work their magic. Victoria Hamilton-Barritt's rendition of What I Did for Love is beautifully done against a backdrop of mirrors. The climactic belting out of One - "One singular sensation" - ends the proceedings on a high. The rough and ready souls we saw at the first audition, kitted out as they make their final triumphant entrance in gold suits and top hats, are finally transformed into shimmering butterflies. It takes a great, big show, with a great big heart, to fill the Palladium's enormous stage, and this one fills every inch of it, magnificently. To Jan 18; www.londonpalladium.org