This musical based on James Jones's famous novel is an adults-only affair what with murder, sadism, homosexuals being fleeced, hookers selling their wares, female nudity, a soldier urinating on stage and another one blowing his head off with his rifle.

So not one for the whole family then.

Based on the book, not the film, which left out quite a lot of just what the grunts got up to with the local gays, at nearly three hours, including an interval, it needs trimming. On the plus side Stuart Brayson's score has several rousing choruses - G Company Blues, The Boys Of '41 and More Than America - although his romantic ballads are less memorable, and Tim Rice's lyrics, when one can make out what the cast are singing, are fine. Director Tamara Harvey keeps the disparate strands together, but Bill Oakes's book is a bit of a mess.

The unusually large chorus, who perform some amazing athletic routines both on the parade ground and in the brothel, are one of the show's real assets. Karen Holmes as the bored commanding officer's wife, Darius Campbell as Warden, her sergeant lover, and Robert Lonsdale as Prewitt, the boxer who refuses to fight are all fine although they do tend to shout too much when acting.

The sets, however, are dreary and the back projections dismal - the surf on that famous beach where Karen and Warden frolic is practically invisible. As for the climax when the Japanese planes fly over Pearl Harbor, the less said the better. But the show remains an admirable attempt at creating a really serious musical which, should it ever get to Broadway, might become a wholly successful one. Just don't take Aunt Edna.