That title. It's not subtle wordplay and when you learn Stephen Sondheim's held in demi-god like reverence you don't really need to do the math.

Camp Ovation is the summer home to more queens than the last royal coronation, each of them harbouring a burning desire to light up Broadway.

However, when we first meet the hopefuls, their performances suggest it's more likely to be Ealing Broadway than the hallowed New York theatre strip.

The camp status quo is upset with the arrival of Vlad (Letterle), a regular sports jock with serious ambitions to be an actor (and he can play guitar).

However, rather than embark on homophobic spree, Vlad proves himself to be a kind, sensitive kinda guy...with an impressive six-pack.

He hooks up with the virginal Ellen (Chilcoat), but he's also a fantasy figure for Michael (De Jesus), a cross-dresser who got a kicking when he attended his school prom in drag.

Running the show is Bert (Dixon), a director who had a Broadway smash a decade before but who now pours vodka miniatures into his coke to hide his problem.

Accompanied by a Dale Winton-lookalike on ivories, they've got two months to rehearse and perform four classic Broadway musicals.

Talent is tested and hearts are broken in manner redolent of nothing so much as Little House on the Prairie relocated to Old Compton Street.

Worth an ovation are the set routines, winningly adapting showstoppers from classic toe-tappers by Sondheim, Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

But deserving of boos and hisses is the clunking plot, ill-served by banal dialogue and desperate for the waspish injection that makes real camp such a pleasure.

Debut director Graff, who was a counsellor for an eight-year-old Robert Downey Jr (work that one out), has concocted a lacklustre drama around a failsafe clutch of songs.

The inexperience of a largely first-time cast is palpable - rife overacting overrides any latent amateur charm.

With this sort of thing you either keep it real or go all out for melodramatic overkill - and this falls between the two camps.

Tim Evans