Up on the Roof

Adapted by Simon Moore and Jane Prowse from their successful stage musical, this concerns five friends from the university of Hull, class of '79. Golden couple Bryony and Scott (Robbins and Lester), tubby geek Angela (Cathcart), cheery hanger-on Tim (Carter) and scaly Keith (Ryan) all belong to an a cappella group. On the last day of term, they vow to meet again in 1989. First problem: as a group, they fail to convince. As for the singing, Prowse and Moore are obviously going for heartfelt sweetness, but only Lester has a really fine voice, while the arrangements are literally soul-destroying. Would the sight of the singing, grinning five, high on a building, overwhelm a whole campus of laidback dudes? A far more likely response would be a unanimous 'Jump!'