How good is it to see a proper grown up musical staged with such sensitivity and respect? Violet is the inaugural offering from Blue Saint Productions, the brainchild of music theatre performers Damien Bermingham and Joshua Robson. Everything about this show feels thoughtful, new and imaginative, from the smart choice of Mitchell Butel to direct through to the uniformly excellent cast and tasteful design (both set and sound). And in Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley’s ‘coming-of-age’ and ‘coming-to-terms’ drama they set a new benchmark for what can be achieved in small-scale musical theatre.

Tesori penned Violet back in 1997 where it ran for six weeks at New York’s prestigious new musical powerhouse Playwright’s Horizons, got respectable reviews, won most of the major off-Broadway awards and that appeared to be that – until an unexpected 2014 Broadway revival brought the show to a new audience and garnered it four Tony nominations. Cutting her teeth as a respected Broadway MD, Tesori’s bread and butter work has included the musical Shrek and extra (ie. three quarters of the score) songs for Thoroughly Modern Millie, but she really hit her stride and...