Chicago began touring the UK this September after it finished a 15-year run at the Garrick Theatre in London, and this recent production is a belter. I had been meanly sceptical – the cast comprises ex-soap stars made ‘more’ famous by Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing on Ice – yet this proved to be a strong, seamless show which quickly thrust me into the Razzle Dazzle of everything I love about a good musical: it was funny, fast, engaging, energising, ridiculous and unapologetically naughty.

Ali Bastian plays a perfectly plucky Roxie and Tupele Dorgu’s Velma is just as gutsy as I was hoping she’d be. Although you could say that their characters are disgustingly self-centred and ambitious, nothing ‘bad’ happens to them as a result and they remain exceptionally likeable, and in fact their ambitiousness serves them well. Chicago somehow manages to stomp over stereotypes and prejudices apparently without having any moral agenda. It’s a blast.

I've been looking forward to seeing this for months, as my long-suffering boyfriend knows only too well. It's hard to say why I'm so fond of Chicago - the characters are unlikeable, disreputable, low-lifes and don't even get their just desserts. Perhaps it's that secret desire that we all have to be femmes fatales? Or maybe it's mushier than that - I was introduced to this show by Channel 4's Musicality, a competition in which ordinary members of the public auditioned, trained and were whittled down to a small group who then replaced the usual cast of Chicago for one night. So the gaps in the plot and the obnoxious characters in the show are easily overlooked as it's linked to some much nicer characters in my head.

Then of course there's the sheer energy of the music and dancing, though the choreography could equally be described as acrobatics. It's not beautiful and flowing, but it's not meant to be. In this performance the strongest ensemble piece as far as dancing is concerned is Razzle Dazzle, because the style of choreography suits the circus theme so well. With the band in the centre of the action there is an immediacy to the music, and the musicians respond to being on view with their own performance and enjoyment. How suitable that their solo number is largely based around Mister Cellophane, poor overlooked performers that they are!

The plot centres around Roxie Hart, who murders her lover and goes to jail. The police say she'll be hung, so she hires Billy Flynn the best lawyer in town. Velma Kelly, already in jail for murdering her sister, is most annoyed at having her thunder and her lawyer stolen. Eventually the two are forced to team up to get back into the limelight and vaudeville. If there is a moral it is that no publicity is bad publicity, or that murder is a great career move: "and who in case she doesn't hang / can say she started with a bang? / Roxie Hart!"

Roxie and Velma are obviously the most important characters, and in this performance Roxie was played by the understudy, Charleen Qwaye. She seemed a little nervous at first, especially around Velma, but really blossomed when we got to the scenes with Billy and explaining Roxie's dreams of fame. She managed then, surrounded by "her boys", to look both supremely smug, and as anxiously wide-eyed as a child in a chocolate factory. And her floppy rag-doll act in We Both Reached For The Gun (The Press Conference Rag) was astonishing. Velma was husky and acerbic, and her duet with Mama Morton on the state of the world, Class, really brought out its comedy. Billy Flynn and Amos Hart were respectively suavity personified and drenched in pathos.

Occasionally things weren't together, especially Velma and Roxie's Hot Honey Rag, but this was more than made up for by the pace of the whole thing. It's a spectacular, from the swinging rhythms to the tight black costumes. It may well give you ideas and a glint in the eye!