Against a tide of pessimism – of The Handmaid’s Tale and more – it is sometimes difficult to remember a time when the world felt open to women on the make.

Cue Thoroughly Modern Millie, effervescent and bubbly as a peach bellini – a musical remake of the 1960s star-vehicle written for and driven mainly by Julie Andrews, fresh from the London stage.

Millie Dillmount is a small-town Kansas girl with a head full of dreams – namely to marry her wealthy boss (and alongside find a job to meet said boss). This proves a tad more complicated than she anticipated as her oblivious employer, who insists on calling her John, is quite clearly impervious to her wiles.

Undeterred, she bides her time, embracing the 1920s ‘flapper’ lifestyle with irrepressible gusto and becoming fast friends with penniless – and hopeless – flirt Jimmy. But it’s not all speakeasies and Charleston. While Millie and her crew are busy painting the town red, back at their all-female boarding house their evil landlady, the stocky kimono-clad Mrs Meers is up to some seriously sinister business…

Hayley Tamaddon is simply spellbinding as starry-eyed Millie and proves quite the all-rounder too. Full of pep and armed with a wind-knocking vocal range, the petite dynamo taps, gurns and belts her merry way through the mile-a-minute show with impressive vim – and boundless cheek.

Lisa Bridge sparkles as the impeccably coiffed Ms Dorothy, a ditzy southern Belle straight from a grand ball with a glitteringly brittle falsetto to match. Lucas Rush is a barrel of laughs as the conniving (and bizarrely named considering he’s passing himself off as a Chinese matriarch) Mrs Meers, the proprietor of the Hotel Priscilla, teetering just on the right side of panto dame and PC (well, most of the time). And we'd be remiss not to doff our hats to Richard Meek's commitment as Millie's boss Trevor: his barmy drunken scene reached brave new heights of physical comedy.

This is one heck of a feel-good romp, packed with upbeat numbers, head-bopping Fred and Ginger-style routines and old-school laughs.

  • Thoroughly Modern Millie runs at the Theatre Royal Bath until Saturday, June 2. - Marion Sauvebois